Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Source-to-source compiler" in English language version.
[…] The Seattle Computer Products Z80 to 8086 Translator runs on the Z80 under CP/M. It accepts as input a Z80 source file written using Zilog/Mostek mnemonics and converts it to an 8086 source file in a format acceptable to our 8086 Cross Assembler. To translate a file, simply type TRANS86 <filename>.<ext>. Regardless of the original extension, the output file will be named <filename>.A86 and will appear on the same drive as the input file. A file named TRNTEST.Z80 is included to demonstrate the translator. The entire Z80 assembly language is not translated. […][24]
[…] Sorcim just completed the purchase of ISA. […] They have also had an 8080-to-8086 translator – Trans-86 – operational for over a year […]
[…] An 8- to 16-bit assembly code translator is now available from Digital Research. Called XLT86, it is designed to help ease the time-consuming process of converting CP/M software products from 8080- to 8086-based microcomputers. XLT86 can be used to translate any assembly language programs that are compatible with Digital Research's ASM, MAC or RMAC assembler format. The XLT86 program translator first reads an 8080 assembly language program and then produces an output file containing 8086 assembly language statements acceptable to the Digital Research ASM-86 assembler. Unlike other 8086 code converters that translate a single 8080 instruction into as many as ten 8086 instructions, XLT86 performs extensive data flow analysis to determine register usage throughout the original program. The information collected through this analysis is used during program translation to eliminate unnecessary flag save and restore operations. "The resulting 8086 program is both simpler and more compact than equivalent programs produced by other translators," according to Curt Geske, of the Digital Research marketing group. "Furthermore, XLT86 allows OEMs, end users and software vendors to preserve their investment in 8080-based assembly language programs when changing to 16-bit 8086-based computers by reducing the conversion effort." Programs translated by XLT86 run on both CP/M-86 and MP/M-86 […] XLT86 is available immediately. It operates on any 8-bit CP/M or MP/M system, or under the VMS operating-system for use on Digital Equipment Corporation VAX series mini-computers. The CP/M version is priced at $150. The VAX version sells for $8,000. […]
[…] Digital Research's XLT86 takes standard 8080 source code in a format compatible with ASM, MAC, or RMAC assemblers and converts the 8080 source code to 8086 source code in a format compatible with ASM86 operating under either CP/M-80 or CP/M-86. Since XLT86 is written in PL/I-80, the translator can run either stand-alone under CP/M-80 or for cross development under VAX/VMS. It produces optimized 8086 code in a five-phase, multipass process, doing global data-flow analysis to determine optimal register usage. Although macro definitions are not supported, conditional-assembly directives are […] if you want macro expansion, you can use a pass through MAC or RMAC to produce a PRN file that can be edited […] to produce an expanded source file for input acceptable to XLT86. XLT86 does not recognize Z80 instructions. XLT86 passes repeat loops through to the 8086 source code. XLT86 analyzes the source program in its entirety, determining the block structure and the register/flag usage. Working from this information, it translates the code to 8086 assembler code in an optimized way. The decision algorithm for each instruction type is given in […] the manual […] Register mapping generally follows […] with a loose relationship between the 8086 AX and the 8080 PSW; the exact relationship is determined from register usage at translate time. Many runtime options are available to control the translation process, both on the command line and embedded in the 8080 source text. […] XLT86 is a sophisticated program that does a reasonable job of optimizing the translation of 8080 source code to 8086 source code. BDOS calls from CP/M-80 are mapped into BDOS calls that are compatible with CP/M-86. XLT86 has special features for handling translation of conditional JMP and CALL instructions in 8080 source code. In the 8080 instructions, JMP and CALL instructions are capable of reaching any address within the 64K-byte region. The 8086 conditional JMP instructions can reach only 128 bytes on either side of the IP […] register. XLT86 examines the target of the conditional JMP. If the target cannot be reached, XLT86 changes the sense of the conditional JMP and skips over a long JMP to the target address. Since there are no conditional CALL or RET instructions in the 8086, the sense of the condition is changed and a short conditional JMP is performed to skip over an unconditional CALL or RET. […] the segment registers allow for separation of code and data regions. […] XLT86 examines an expression and determines the proper segment for the particular instruction. […][7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] (13 pages)
[…] Achtung C- und Basic-Programmierer! […] Jetzt gibt es den B→C TRANSPILER das einzigartige Umwandlungs-Software-System von ARC […] Der B→C TRANSPILER übersetzt lauffähige AMIGA-Basicprogramme in compilierbaren C-Code. […] Durch Spezialbefehle kann C-Code in Basicprogramme direkt integriert werden. […] Basic-Befehle werden erweitert transpiliert. (HAM-Modus, IFF, usw. werden unterstützt). […] Mit diesem Konzept neuester Generation verbindet der B→C TRANSPILER auf einzigartige Weise die Vorteile eines Interpreters mit denen eines Compilers […][1]
[…] The name Transpiler is meant to suggest a combination of transputer and compiler, in just the same way that transputer was coined from transistor and computer (i.e., a computer that is also a component). […](NB. Uses the term Occam transpiler as a synonym for a source-to-source compiler working as a pre-processor that takes a normal Occam program as input and derives a new Occam source code as output with link-to-channel assignments etc. added to it thereby configuring it for parallel processing to run as efficient as possible on a network of transputers.)
[…] The 8086 is software-compatible with the 8080 at the assembly-language level. […]
[…] other programs round out the software development tools available for the 8086 and 8088. […] CONV-86 can do most of the conversion work required to translate 8080/8085 assembly language source modules into ASM-86 source modules. […] To facilitate conversion of 8080A/8085A assembly language programs to run on the iSBC 86/12A board CONV-86 is available under the ISIS-II operating system.[5] [6]
[…] Digital Research's XLT86 takes standard 8080 source code in a format compatible with ASM, MAC, or RMAC assemblers and converts the 8080 source code to 8086 source code in a format compatible with ASM86 operating under either CP/M-80 or CP/M-86. Since XLT86 is written in PL/I-80, the translator can run either stand-alone under CP/M-80 or for cross development under VAX/VMS. It produces optimized 8086 code in a five-phase, multipass process, doing global data-flow analysis to determine optimal register usage. Although macro definitions are not supported, conditional-assembly directives are […] if you want macro expansion, you can use a pass through MAC or RMAC to produce a PRN file that can be edited […] to produce an expanded source file for input acceptable to XLT86. XLT86 does not recognize Z80 instructions. XLT86 passes repeat loops through to the 8086 source code. XLT86 analyzes the source program in its entirety, determining the block structure and the register/flag usage. Working from this information, it translates the code to 8086 assembler code in an optimized way. The decision algorithm for each instruction type is given in […] the manual […] Register mapping generally follows […] with a loose relationship between the 8086 AX and the 8080 PSW; the exact relationship is determined from register usage at translate time. Many runtime options are available to control the translation process, both on the command line and embedded in the 8080 source text. […] XLT86 is a sophisticated program that does a reasonable job of optimizing the translation of 8080 source code to 8086 source code. BDOS calls from CP/M-80 are mapped into BDOS calls that are compatible with CP/M-86. XLT86 has special features for handling translation of conditional JMP and CALL instructions in 8080 source code. In the 8080 instructions, JMP and CALL instructions are capable of reaching any address within the 64K-byte region. The 8086 conditional JMP instructions can reach only 128 bytes on either side of the IP […] register. XLT86 examines the target of the conditional JMP. If the target cannot be reached, XLT86 changes the sense of the conditional JMP and skips over a long JMP to the target address. Since there are no conditional CALL or RET instructions in the 8086, the sense of the condition is changed and a short conditional JMP is performed to skip over an unconditional CALL or RET. […] the segment registers allow for separation of code and data regions. […] XLT86 examines an expression and determines the proper segment for the particular instruction. […][7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] (13 pages)
[…] MS-DOS Design Criteria […] The primary design requirement of MS-DOS was CP/M-80 translation compatibility, meaning that, if an 8080 or Z80 program for CP/M were translated for the 8086 according to Intel's published rules, that program would execute properly under MS-DOS. Making CP/M-80 translation compatibility a requirement served to promote rapid development of 8086 software, which, naturally, Seattle Computer was interested in. There was partial success: those software developers who chose to translate their CP/M-80 programs found that they did indeed run under MS-DOS, often on the first try. Unfortunately, many of the software developers Seattle Computer talked to in the earlier days preferred to simply ignore MS-DOS. Until the IBM Personal Computer was announced, these developers felt that CP/M-86 would be the operating system of 8086/8088 computers. […][21] [22]
[…] 1. Read Z80 source code file written in CP/M format and convert to 86-DOS format. 2. Translator program translates Z80 source code to 8086 source code. 3. Resident assembler assembles the translated 8086 source code to 8086 object code. 4. Minor hand correction and optimization. (A recent 19K Z80 program translation took us about four hours to fix up. Even without optimization, it ran twice as fast as the original! […])[23]
[…] The Seattle Computer Products Z80 to 8086 Translator runs on the Z80 under CP/M. It accepts as input a Z80 source file written using Zilog/Mostek mnemonics and converts it to an 8086 source file in a format acceptable to our 8086 Cross Assembler. To translate a file, simply type TRANS86 <filename>.<ext>. Regardless of the original extension, the output file will be named <filename>.A86 and will appear on the same drive as the input file. A file named TRNTEST.Z80 is included to demonstrate the translator. The entire Z80 assembly language is not translated. […][24]
[…] The source code translator can translate most Z80 source code into 8086 source code acceptable to the assembler after minor manual correction. This provides a relatively quick and easy way to transport programs between the processors. […] TRANS file […] The Z80-to-8086 Source Code Translator, called by this command, is essentially identical to our version that runs on the Z80, which is described in the back of the Assembler manual. The only differences: 1. The Translator is called TRANS, not TRANS86, and it runs on the 8086 under 86-DOS, not on the Z80 under CP/M. 2. The extension of the output file is "ASM", not "A86". […][26]
[…] WHY? FLEXIBILITY. CompuPro's 85/88 CPU runs CP/M 80, 86, MP/M II and MP/M 86. We offer WORDSTAR dBASE II SUPERCALC a host of languages, 8080 to 8088 translators and more! COMPATIBILITY. Our systems can use CP/M 2.2 utilities to write programs for the IBM PC. You simply create 8088 source (either write it with your favorite CP/M 80 editor or translate it with Sorcim's TRANS 86), cross-assemble your source (with Sorcim's ACT86), link your hex file (with CP/M 80's LOAD command), translate it to the IBM PC (with G&G's CPM-IBM program), and run it on your IBM PC! This procedure DOES NOT require MS-DOS! […] WHY? FLEXIBILITY. CompuPro's 85/88 CPU runs CP/M 80 & 86 or MS-DOS. We offer WORDSTAR, dBASE II, TRANS86, XLT86, ACT86, SUPERCALC, CBASIC, MBASIC, MFORTRAN and more! […][28] [29]
[…] PC: What are some of the complexities involved in translating a program from 8080 to 8086 form? Kildall: Straight translations at the source program level you can do pretty much mechanically. For example, an 8080 "Add immediate 5" instruction turns into an "Add AL 5" on the 8086 — very straightforward translation of the op codes themselves. The complexity in mechanical translation comes from situations such as this: The 8080 instruction DAD H takes the HL register and adds DE to it. For the 8086 the equivalent instruction would be something like ADD DX BX, which is fine, no particular problem. You just say the DX register is the same as HL and BX the same as DE. The problem is that the 8086 instruction has a side effect of setting the zero flag, and the 8080 instruction does not. In mechanical translation you end up doing something like saving the flags, restoring the flags, doing some shifts and rotates, and so forth. These add about five or six extra instructions to get the same semantic effect. There are a lot of sequences in 8080 code that produce very strange sequences in 8086 code; they just don't map very well because of flag registers and things of that sort. The way we get software over is a thing called XLT-86. It's been out six months or so. PC: By "better" code do you mean smaller? Kildall: Twenty percent smaller than if you just took every op code and did a straight translation, saving the registers to preserve semantics. PC: How does the size of the translated program compare to the 8080 version? Kildall: If you take an 8080 program, move it over to 86 land and do an XLT-86 translation, you'll find that it is roughly 10 to 20 percent larger. With 16-bit machines it's more difficult to address everything; you get op codes that are a little bit bigger on the average. An interesting phenomenon is that one of the reasons you don't get a tremendous speed increase in the 16-bit world is because you're running more op codes over the data bus. […]
[…] Z8000 TRANSLATOR: Provides a quick means to convert an existing Z80 Assembly Language program to Z8000 code and the PLZ/ASM program format. […][34] [35]
[…] Priority claimed under Sec. 44(D) on United Kingdom Application No. 1495953, filed 1992-03-31 Reg. No. A1495953, dated 1992-03-31, expires 1999-03-31. For computer software and programs (U.S. Cl. 38). First use 1991-08-01, in commerce 1991-08-01.(NB. This company develops products such as VX/BASIC, a BASIC-to-C transpiler for DEC VMS. Despite their claim, theirs is not the first public use of the term transpiler, see i.e. ARC's BASIC-to-C transpiler for the Amiga in 1988 and the Occam Transpiler by Concurrent Technology Systems (CTS) in 1989.)
[…] "Unless you have a translating scheme that takes account of the peculiar idiosyncrasies of the target microprocessor, there is no way that an automatic translator can work," explains Daniel Davis, a programmer with Digital Research. "You'll end up with direct transliterations." […] In spite of all these limitations, progress has been made recently in the development of translators. Most notably, Digital Research has introduced its eight- to 16-bit assembly code translator. Based on research performed by Digital Research president Gary Kildall, the XLT86 appears to offer advances over previously available software translator technology. Like Sorcim's Trans and Intel's Convert 86, Kildall's package translates assembly-language code from an 8080 microprocessor to an 8086. However, Kildall has applied a global flow analysis technique that takes into account some of the major drawbacks of other translators. The procedure analyzes the register and flag usage in sections of 8080 code in order to eliminate nonessential code. According to Digital Research programmer Davis, the algorithm Kildall uses allows the translator to consider the context as it translates the program. Until now, one of the major problems with any translator program has been the inability of the software to do much more than transliteration. If Digital Research's new translator actually advances the technology to the point where context can be considered, then more software translators may proliferate in the microcomputer marketplace.
[…] An impressive and useful array of software development utilities is a standard feature of MS-DOS. A program that translates 8080 or Z80 code into 8086 source code, a linker, and a library runtime combine with a powerful assembler to give the programmer everything needed to take full advantage of the PC's 16-bit processor. The MS-DOS translation program allows the user to translate code developed under CP/M-80 or SB-80 […] 8-bit operating system […] to MS-DOS 1.2 or 2.0. Some modification beyond simple translation may be necessary to get the programs to run on 16-bit systems, so I suggest that this tool be used primarily by a technically trained user. […]
[…] Last week was the semi-annual California Computer Swap Meet. This event is organized by John Craig […] Sorcim […] was debuting […] new products at the show […] Their other product was TRANS-86. TRANS-86 will take any CP/M compatible 8080/8085/Z-80 source code file and translate it into 8086 code. You can then assemble the new file with ACT-86. […]
[…] XLT-86 1.1 […] XLT-86 is an analytical translator program written in PL/I-80. It reads the entire 8080 source program, assembles it to machine code, analyzes the register, memory and flag utilization, and emits an optimized 8086 assembly-language program. […] There is also a version of XLT-86 for those of you who have access to a VAX 11/750 or 11/780. This version can translate much larger programs. It also costs $8000. […] While the translator adds some labels and equates to the source program as part of the translation, all original comments and program labels are passed through intact to the translated program. […] The program translation proceeds in a five-step process. First, the program is scanned and assembled to produce symbol values and locations. Second, the program structure is analyzed and decomposed into basic blocks. Third, the basic blocks are analyzed to determine program flow and resource usage. Forth, the block structure and register allocation data is gathered into a listing for the user. Fifth, the flow information and source program are used to produce the 8086 source program. […]
[…] Kildall: […] A year and a half ago I was probably spending 75% of my time on the business and 25% on programming. XLT-86 was a product I was working on at that time, and it took me nine months to do it. That would have been a three-month project if I had been able to concentrate on it. […]
[…] 8086/88 Assembler With Translator $99.50 Available for MSDOS, PCDOS, or CP/M-86 […] This package also includes […] an 8080 to 8086 source code translator (no limit on program size to translate) […] Z-8000 Cross Development Package $199.50 […] This powerful package includes a Z-80/8080 to Z-8000 Assembly Language Source Code Translator […] The Translators provide Z-8000 source code from the Intel 8080 or Zilog Z-80 source code. The Z-8000 source code used by these packages are in the unique 2500AD syntax using Zilog mnemonics designed to make the transition from Z-80 code writing to Z-8000 easy […] 8086 and Z-8000 XASM includes source code translators […](NB. 8086/88 XASM available for Z-80 CP/M, Zilog System 8000 UNIX, Olivetti M-20 PCOS; Z-8000 XASM for Z-80 CP/M, MS-DOS, CP/M-86, Olivetti M-20 PCOS.)
[…] Zilog, Inc. has introduced a series of modular and expandable product development systems (PDS) for Z8-, Z80-, and Z8000-based microcomputer designs. All four versions of the PDS 8000 system – models 10, 15, 25, and 30 – have […] A standard feature of each system is a Z8000 software development package, which includes the ZDOSII file management routine, PLZ/ASM high-level structured assemblers, a Z80/Z8000 translator and a Z8000 L and MACP macroprocessor. […] The models 10 and 25 have the same specifications as the models 15 and 30, respectively. but the 10 and 25 do not include the Z8000 development module. The PDS Model 10 is priced at $10,485; the Model 15 at $11,995; the Model 25 at $20,000; and the Model 35 at $21,500. All four systems are available 30 days after receipt of the order. […]
[…] Table 1. 16-Bit Microprocessor Characteristics […] Zilog 8000 […] Software […] Zilog expects to support Z8000 with translators for PLZ, BASIC, COBOL and FORTRAN. These will permit conversion of Z80 code to Z8000 code, since Z8000 set is superset to Z80. […]
[…] Digital Research has also announced plans for a Z8000 version of CP/M. Application software will be moved to the Z8000 when more development software is available. A commercially available translator from Z80 to Z8000 is needed. […]
[…] Tim Paterson […] had the following to say about his 8086 Assembler he wrote while at SCP: "The 8086 assembler I wrote originally was in Z80 assembly language and ran under CP/M. I believe it was distributed with the SCP 8086 CPU card as ASM86. I also wrote a translator that converted Z80 source code to inefficient but workable 8086 source code (Intel promoted this idea with a published translation table). This was called TRANS86 and was also written in Z80 assembly for CP/M. Once DOS was working, I applied the translator to ASM86 (and to itself) to create 8086 versions that ran under DOS. I do not have the change history in front of me […], but I believe that versions >= 2 marked the translated (DOS) version. If any history shows version numbers < 2, that was the CP/M version." […]
[…] Digital Research's XLT86 takes standard 8080 source code in a format compatible with ASM, MAC, or RMAC assemblers and converts the 8080 source code to 8086 source code in a format compatible with ASM86 operating under either CP/M-80 or CP/M-86. Since XLT86 is written in PL/I-80, the translator can run either stand-alone under CP/M-80 or for cross development under VAX/VMS. It produces optimized 8086 code in a five-phase, multipass process, doing global data-flow analysis to determine optimal register usage. Although macro definitions are not supported, conditional-assembly directives are […] if you want macro expansion, you can use a pass through MAC or RMAC to produce a PRN file that can be edited […] to produce an expanded source file for input acceptable to XLT86. XLT86 does not recognize Z80 instructions. XLT86 passes repeat loops through to the 8086 source code. XLT86 analyzes the source program in its entirety, determining the block structure and the register/flag usage. Working from this information, it translates the code to 8086 assembler code in an optimized way. The decision algorithm for each instruction type is given in […] the manual […] Register mapping generally follows […] with a loose relationship between the 8086 AX and the 8080 PSW; the exact relationship is determined from register usage at translate time. Many runtime options are available to control the translation process, both on the command line and embedded in the 8080 source text. […] XLT86 is a sophisticated program that does a reasonable job of optimizing the translation of 8080 source code to 8086 source code. BDOS calls from CP/M-80 are mapped into BDOS calls that are compatible with CP/M-86. XLT86 has special features for handling translation of conditional JMP and CALL instructions in 8080 source code. In the 8080 instructions, JMP and CALL instructions are capable of reaching any address within the 64K-byte region. The 8086 conditional JMP instructions can reach only 128 bytes on either side of the IP […] register. XLT86 examines the target of the conditional JMP. If the target cannot be reached, XLT86 changes the sense of the conditional JMP and skips over a long JMP to the target address. Since there are no conditional CALL or RET instructions in the 8086, the sense of the condition is changed and a short conditional JMP is performed to skip over an unconditional CALL or RET. […] the segment registers allow for separation of code and data regions. […] XLT86 examines an expression and determines the proper segment for the particular instruction. […][7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] (13 pages)
[…] MS-DOS Design Criteria […] The primary design requirement of MS-DOS was CP/M-80 translation compatibility, meaning that, if an 8080 or Z80 program for CP/M were translated for the 8086 according to Intel's published rules, that program would execute properly under MS-DOS. Making CP/M-80 translation compatibility a requirement served to promote rapid development of 8086 software, which, naturally, Seattle Computer was interested in. There was partial success: those software developers who chose to translate their CP/M-80 programs found that they did indeed run under MS-DOS, often on the first try. Unfortunately, many of the software developers Seattle Computer talked to in the earlier days preferred to simply ignore MS-DOS. Until the IBM Personal Computer was announced, these developers felt that CP/M-86 would be the operating system of 8086/8088 computers. […][21] [22]
[…] 1. Read Z80 source code file written in CP/M format and convert to 86-DOS format. 2. Translator program translates Z80 source code to 8086 source code. 3. Resident assembler assembles the translated 8086 source code to 8086 object code. 4. Minor hand correction and optimization. (A recent 19K Z80 program translation took us about four hours to fix up. Even without optimization, it ran twice as fast as the original! […])[23]
[…] Rolander: I mentioned earlier that Gary liked to approach a problem as an architect. […] And he would draw the most beautiful pictures of his data structures. […] And when he finished that […] and was convinced those data structures were now correct, he would go into just an unbelievable manic coding mode. He would just go for as many as 20 hours a day […] he was just gone during these periods of time. On a couple of those occasions, when he'd get something running the first time, which could be in the middle of night. And all you who have written software have seen that, for example, that the first time it comes up on the screen, you've got to tell somebody. My wife Lori will tell you that I had a couple of those calls in the middle of the night, LOGO was one example, XLT 86 was another, where he got it running the first time, and he had to have somebody see it. So it didn't matter what time it was, he'd call me, I'd have to come over and see it running. […][30] [31] (33 pages)
[…] Kildall founded Digital Research, Inc. (DRI) in 1976, which is now part of Novell. […] In the 1980's, DRI introduced a binary recompiler. […]
[…] CP/M Translation Compatibility […] For DOS to succeed, it would need useful applications (like word processing) to be written for it. I was concerned that SCP might have trouble persuading authors of application software to put in the effort to create a DOS version of their programs. Few people had bought SCP's 16-bit computer, so the installed base was small. Without the applications, there wouldn't be many users, and without the users, there wouldn't be many applications. […] My hope was that by making it as easy as possible to port existing 8-bit applications to our 16-bit computer, we would get more rogrammers to take the plunge. And it seemed to me that CP/M translation compatibility was what would make the job as easy as possible. Intel had defined rules for translating 8-bit programs into 16-bit programs; CP/M translation compatibility means that when a program's request to CP/M went through the translation, it would become an equivalent request to DOS. […] So I made CP/M translation compatibility a fundamental design goal. This required me to create a very specific Application Program Interface that implemented the translation compatibility. I did not consider this the primary API – there was, in fact, another API more suited to the 16-bit world and that had more capabilities. Both APIs used CP/M-defined constructs (such as the "File Control Block"); the compatibility API had to, and I didn't see a reason to define something different for the primary API. […] I myself took advantage of translation compatibility. The development tools I had written, such as the assembler, were originally 8-bit programs that ran under CP/M (CDOS). I put them through the translator and came up with 16-bit programs that ran under DOS. These translated tools were included with DOS when shipped by SCP. But I don't think anyone else ever took advantage of this process. […]
In March, 1995, the Software Publishers Association posthumously honored Gary for his contributions to the computer industry. They listed some of his accomplishments: […] In the 1980s, through DRI, he introduced a binary recompiler. […]
[…] The XLT86 program occupies approximately 30K bytes of main memory. The remainder of memory, up to the base of CP/M, stores the program graph that represents the 8086 program being translated […] A 64K CP/M system allows translation of 8080 programs of up to approximately 6K. […][32] [33]
[…] The XLT86 program occupies approximately 30K bytes of main memory. The remainder of memory, up to the base of CP/M, stores the program graph that represents the 8086 program being translated […] A 64K CP/M system allows translation of 8080 programs of up to approximately 6K. […][32] [33]
[…] The XLT86 program occupies approximately 30K bytes of main memory. The remainder of memory, up to the base of CP/M, stores the program graph that represents the 8086 program being translated […] A 64K CP/M system allows translation of 8080 programs of up to approximately 6K. […][32] [33]
[…] Digital Research's XLT86 takes standard 8080 source code in a format compatible with ASM, MAC, or RMAC assemblers and converts the 8080 source code to 8086 source code in a format compatible with ASM86 operating under either CP/M-80 or CP/M-86. Since XLT86 is written in PL/I-80, the translator can run either stand-alone under CP/M-80 or for cross development under VAX/VMS. It produces optimized 8086 code in a five-phase, multipass process, doing global data-flow analysis to determine optimal register usage. Although macro definitions are not supported, conditional-assembly directives are […] if you want macro expansion, you can use a pass through MAC or RMAC to produce a PRN file that can be edited […] to produce an expanded source file for input acceptable to XLT86. XLT86 does not recognize Z80 instructions. XLT86 passes repeat loops through to the 8086 source code. XLT86 analyzes the source program in its entirety, determining the block structure and the register/flag usage. Working from this information, it translates the code to 8086 assembler code in an optimized way. The decision algorithm for each instruction type is given in […] the manual […] Register mapping generally follows […] with a loose relationship between the 8086 AX and the 8080 PSW; the exact relationship is determined from register usage at translate time. Many runtime options are available to control the translation process, both on the command line and embedded in the 8080 source text. […] XLT86 is a sophisticated program that does a reasonable job of optimizing the translation of 8080 source code to 8086 source code. BDOS calls from CP/M-80 are mapped into BDOS calls that are compatible with CP/M-86. XLT86 has special features for handling translation of conditional JMP and CALL instructions in 8080 source code. In the 8080 instructions, JMP and CALL instructions are capable of reaching any address within the 64K-byte region. The 8086 conditional JMP instructions can reach only 128 bytes on either side of the IP […] register. XLT86 examines the target of the conditional JMP. If the target cannot be reached, XLT86 changes the sense of the conditional JMP and skips over a long JMP to the target address. Since there are no conditional CALL or RET instructions in the 8086, the sense of the condition is changed and a short conditional JMP is performed to skip over an unconditional CALL or RET. […] the segment registers allow for separation of code and data regions. […] XLT86 examines an expression and determines the proper segment for the particular instruction. […][7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] (13 pages)
[…] 1. Read Z80 source code file written in CP/M format and convert to 86-DOS format. 2. Translator program translates Z80 source code to 8086 source code. 3. Resident assembler assembles the translated 8086 source code to 8086 object code. 4. Minor hand correction and optimization. (A recent 19K Z80 program translation took us about four hours to fix up. Even without optimization, it ran twice as fast as the original! […])[23]
[…] Ironically, many of the techniques Gary pioneered are being rediscovered now, ten years later. Apple and DEC are touting binary recompilation as a "new" technology for porting existing software to the PowerPC or Alpha architecture. Actually, DRI introduced an 8080-to-8086 binary recompiler in the early 1980s. […]
[…] To get major software developers to port their products from the 8080/Z80 to the 8086, I decided we had to make it as easy as possible. I had already written a Z80-to-8086 source code translator (hosted on the 8080 and CP/M). My plan was that running an 8080 CP/M program through the translator would be the only work required by software developers to port the program to the 8086. In other words, the interface used by applications to request operating system services would be exactly the same as CP/M's after applying the translation rules. […]
[…] other programs round out the software development tools available for the 8086 and 8088. […] CONV-86 can do most of the conversion work required to translate 8080/8085 assembly language source modules into ASM-86 source modules. […] To facilitate conversion of 8080A/8085A assembly language programs to run on the iSBC 86/12A board CONV-86 is available under the ISIS-II operating system.[5] [6]
[…] The original 8086 assembler ran on an 8080-equipped MDS-80 dev system. One of the first products was a 8080 to 8086 source level translator. I recall that the speed of translation was phenomenally slow. […] our sales guy offered to run a conversion and verification test at the local sales office […] We […] started the job on the ISIS-II MDS 200 series there--they even had a hard disk, which was an outrageously expensive option for an MDS […] still crunching when we left for the night. It still wasn't done the next morning […] About 2 weeks later, after the Intel software guys had a look at the translator, Ed returned with the translated program. It was about 50% larger in size than the original 8085 version, which sort of went counter to Intel's claims for the translator. […]
[…] Intel had an ISIS-hosted translator from 8080-to-8086 code. I can remember spending a very frustrating day at the local Intel sales office with a sample bit of 8080 code--a basic BCD floating-point package for the 8080 and waiting for hours for the translator to finish its work--and going home disappointed. About a week later, I received a call that they'd finally figured out the bugs and I could pick up my translated program. Said program was more than half-again as large as the original in terms of object bytes. I was a bit skeptical of the Intel claim back then that the 8086 code was far more compact than its 8080 counterpart. And the blasted thing didn't work anyway when it was put to the test. […] There were other 80-to-86 translators for CP/M. I recall that Sorcim had one. AMC had a Z80-to-Z8000 translator as well. […] The [Intel] translator had several levels of translation […] there was the "literal", preserving detailed operation […] it was ISIS-II, running on an MDS-800, at, what, 2 MHz with 8" floppies. […]
[…] both Zilog and AMC offered Z80-to-Z8000 translation programs. Like the Intel 8080-to-8086 translator, it resulted in immediate bloat unless you were willing to hand-optimize the result. Much early MS-DOS code was auto-translated and tweaked 8080 CP/M code. I know that much of SuperCalc for the PC was, for example. Early (e.g. 3.3) versions of Wordstar for DOS probably also were. […] There were Z80-to-Z8000 source-code translators, but it wasn't a straightforward process ("strict" and "relaxed" modes; sometimes one Z80-to-several Z8000 instructions). The 8086 is much closer to the 8080 than the Z8000 is to the Z80. […]
[…] Achtung C- und Basic-Programmierer! […] Jetzt gibt es den B→C TRANSPILER das einzigartige Umwandlungs-Software-System von ARC […] Der B→C TRANSPILER übersetzt lauffähige AMIGA-Basicprogramme in compilierbaren C-Code. […] Durch Spezialbefehle kann C-Code in Basicprogramme direkt integriert werden. […] Basic-Befehle werden erweitert transpiliert. (HAM-Modus, IFF, usw. werden unterstützt). […] Mit diesem Konzept neuester Generation verbindet der B→C TRANSPILER auf einzigartige Weise die Vorteile eines Interpreters mit denen eines Compilers […][1]
[…] Priority claimed under Sec. 44(D) on United Kingdom Application No. 1495953, filed 1992-03-31 Reg. No. A1495953, dated 1992-03-31, expires 1999-03-31. For computer software and programs (U.S. Cl. 38). First use 1991-08-01, in commerce 1991-08-01.(NB. This company develops products such as VX/BASIC, a BASIC-to-C transpiler for DEC VMS. Despite their claim, theirs is not the first public use of the term transpiler, see i.e. ARC's BASIC-to-C transpiler for the Amiga in 1988 and the Occam Transpiler by Concurrent Technology Systems (CTS) in 1989.)
[…] "Unless you have a translating scheme that takes account of the peculiar idiosyncrasies of the target microprocessor, there is no way that an automatic translator can work," explains Daniel Davis, a programmer with Digital Research. "You'll end up with direct transliterations." […] In spite of all these limitations, progress has been made recently in the development of translators. Most notably, Digital Research has introduced its eight- to 16-bit assembly code translator. Based on research performed by Digital Research president Gary Kildall, the XLT86 appears to offer advances over previously available software translator technology. Like Sorcim's Trans and Intel's Convert 86, Kildall's package translates assembly-language code from an 8080 microprocessor to an 8086. However, Kildall has applied a global flow analysis technique that takes into account some of the major drawbacks of other translators. The procedure analyzes the register and flag usage in sections of 8080 code in order to eliminate nonessential code. According to Digital Research programmer Davis, the algorithm Kildall uses allows the translator to consider the context as it translates the program. Until now, one of the major problems with any translator program has been the inability of the software to do much more than transliteration. If Digital Research's new translator actually advances the technology to the point where context can be considered, then more software translators may proliferate in the microcomputer marketplace.
[…] Digital Research's XLT86 takes standard 8080 source code in a format compatible with ASM, MAC, or RMAC assemblers and converts the 8080 source code to 8086 source code in a format compatible with ASM86 operating under either CP/M-80 or CP/M-86. Since XLT86 is written in PL/I-80, the translator can run either stand-alone under CP/M-80 or for cross development under VAX/VMS. It produces optimized 8086 code in a five-phase, multipass process, doing global data-flow analysis to determine optimal register usage. Although macro definitions are not supported, conditional-assembly directives are […] if you want macro expansion, you can use a pass through MAC or RMAC to produce a PRN file that can be edited […] to produce an expanded source file for input acceptable to XLT86. XLT86 does not recognize Z80 instructions. XLT86 passes repeat loops through to the 8086 source code. XLT86 analyzes the source program in its entirety, determining the block structure and the register/flag usage. Working from this information, it translates the code to 8086 assembler code in an optimized way. The decision algorithm for each instruction type is given in […] the manual […] Register mapping generally follows […] with a loose relationship between the 8086 AX and the 8080 PSW; the exact relationship is determined from register usage at translate time. Many runtime options are available to control the translation process, both on the command line and embedded in the 8080 source text. […] XLT86 is a sophisticated program that does a reasonable job of optimizing the translation of 8080 source code to 8086 source code. BDOS calls from CP/M-80 are mapped into BDOS calls that are compatible with CP/M-86. XLT86 has special features for handling translation of conditional JMP and CALL instructions in 8080 source code. In the 8080 instructions, JMP and CALL instructions are capable of reaching any address within the 64K-byte region. The 8086 conditional JMP instructions can reach only 128 bytes on either side of the IP […] register. XLT86 examines the target of the conditional JMP. If the target cannot be reached, XLT86 changes the sense of the conditional JMP and skips over a long JMP to the target address. Since there are no conditional CALL or RET instructions in the 8086, the sense of the condition is changed and a short conditional JMP is performed to skip over an unconditional CALL or RET. […] the segment registers allow for separation of code and data regions. […] XLT86 examines an expression and determines the proper segment for the particular instruction. […][7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] (13 pages)
[…] The original 8086 assembler ran on an 8080-equipped MDS-80 dev system. One of the first products was a 8080 to 8086 source level translator. I recall that the speed of translation was phenomenally slow. […] our sales guy offered to run a conversion and verification test at the local sales office […] We […] started the job on the ISIS-II MDS 200 series there--they even had a hard disk, which was an outrageously expensive option for an MDS […] still crunching when we left for the night. It still wasn't done the next morning […] About 2 weeks later, after the Intel software guys had a look at the translator, Ed returned with the translated program. It was about 50% larger in size than the original 8085 version, which sort of went counter to Intel's claims for the translator. […]
[…] Intel had an ISIS-hosted translator from 8080-to-8086 code. I can remember spending a very frustrating day at the local Intel sales office with a sample bit of 8080 code--a basic BCD floating-point package for the 8080 and waiting for hours for the translator to finish its work--and going home disappointed. About a week later, I received a call that they'd finally figured out the bugs and I could pick up my translated program. Said program was more than half-again as large as the original in terms of object bytes. I was a bit skeptical of the Intel claim back then that the 8086 code was far more compact than its 8080 counterpart. And the blasted thing didn't work anyway when it was put to the test. […] There were other 80-to-86 translators for CP/M. I recall that Sorcim had one. AMC had a Z80-to-Z8000 translator as well. […] The [Intel] translator had several levels of translation […] there was the "literal", preserving detailed operation […] it was ISIS-II, running on an MDS-800, at, what, 2 MHz with 8" floppies. […]
[…] Tim Paterson […] had the following to say about his 8086 Assembler he wrote while at SCP: "The 8086 assembler I wrote originally was in Z80 assembly language and ran under CP/M. I believe it was distributed with the SCP 8086 CPU card as ASM86. I also wrote a translator that converted Z80 source code to inefficient but workable 8086 source code (Intel promoted this idea with a published translation table). This was called TRANS86 and was also written in Z80 assembly for CP/M. Once DOS was working, I applied the translator to ASM86 (and to itself) to create 8086 versions that ran under DOS. I do not have the change history in front of me […], but I believe that versions >= 2 marked the translated (DOS) version. If any history shows version numbers < 2, that was the CP/M version." […]
[…] MS-DOS Design Criteria […] The primary design requirement of MS-DOS was CP/M-80 translation compatibility, meaning that, if an 8080 or Z80 program for CP/M were translated for the 8086 according to Intel's published rules, that program would execute properly under MS-DOS. Making CP/M-80 translation compatibility a requirement served to promote rapid development of 8086 software, which, naturally, Seattle Computer was interested in. There was partial success: those software developers who chose to translate their CP/M-80 programs found that they did indeed run under MS-DOS, often on the first try. Unfortunately, many of the software developers Seattle Computer talked to in the earlier days preferred to simply ignore MS-DOS. Until the IBM Personal Computer was announced, these developers felt that CP/M-86 would be the operating system of 8086/8088 computers. […][21] [22]
[…] 1. Read Z80 source code file written in CP/M format and convert to 86-DOS format. 2. Translator program translates Z80 source code to 8086 source code. 3. Resident assembler assembles the translated 8086 source code to 8086 object code. 4. Minor hand correction and optimization. (A recent 19K Z80 program translation took us about four hours to fix up. Even without optimization, it ran twice as fast as the original! […])[23]
[…] To get major software developers to port their products from the 8080/Z80 to the 8086, I decided we had to make it as easy as possible. I had already written a Z80-to-8086 source code translator (hosted on the 8080 and CP/M). My plan was that running an 8080 CP/M program through the translator would be the only work required by software developers to port the program to the 8086. In other words, the interface used by applications to request operating system services would be exactly the same as CP/M's after applying the translation rules. […]
[…] CP/M Translation Compatibility […] For DOS to succeed, it would need useful applications (like word processing) to be written for it. I was concerned that SCP might have trouble persuading authors of application software to put in the effort to create a DOS version of their programs. Few people had bought SCP's 16-bit computer, so the installed base was small. Without the applications, there wouldn't be many users, and without the users, there wouldn't be many applications. […] My hope was that by making it as easy as possible to port existing 8-bit applications to our 16-bit computer, we would get more rogrammers to take the plunge. And it seemed to me that CP/M translation compatibility was what would make the job as easy as possible. Intel had defined rules for translating 8-bit programs into 16-bit programs; CP/M translation compatibility means that when a program's request to CP/M went through the translation, it would become an equivalent request to DOS. […] So I made CP/M translation compatibility a fundamental design goal. This required me to create a very specific Application Program Interface that implemented the translation compatibility. I did not consider this the primary API – there was, in fact, another API more suited to the 16-bit world and that had more capabilities. Both APIs used CP/M-defined constructs (such as the "File Control Block"); the compatibility API had to, and I didn't see a reason to define something different for the primary API. […] I myself took advantage of translation compatibility. The development tools I had written, such as the assembler, were originally 8-bit programs that ran under CP/M (CDOS). I put them through the translator and came up with 16-bit programs that ran under DOS. These translated tools were included with DOS when shipped by SCP. But I don't think anyone else ever took advantage of this process. […]
[…] An impressive and useful array of software development utilities is a standard feature of MS-DOS. A program that translates 8080 or Z80 code into 8086 source code, a linker, and a library runtime combine with a powerful assembler to give the programmer everything needed to take full advantage of the PC's 16-bit processor. The MS-DOS translation program allows the user to translate code developed under CP/M-80 or SB-80 […] 8-bit operating system […] to MS-DOS 1.2 or 2.0. Some modification beyond simple translation may be necessary to get the programs to run on 16-bit systems, so I suggest that this tool be used primarily by a technically trained user. […]
[…] Last week was the semi-annual California Computer Swap Meet. This event is organized by John Craig […] Sorcim […] was debuting […] new products at the show […] Their other product was TRANS-86. TRANS-86 will take any CP/M compatible 8080/8085/Z-80 source code file and translate it into 8086 code. You can then assemble the new file with ACT-86. […]
[…] XLT-86 1.1 […] XLT-86 is an analytical translator program written in PL/I-80. It reads the entire 8080 source program, assembles it to machine code, analyzes the register, memory and flag utilization, and emits an optimized 8086 assembly-language program. […] There is also a version of XLT-86 for those of you who have access to a VAX 11/750 or 11/780. This version can translate much larger programs. It also costs $8000. […] While the translator adds some labels and equates to the source program as part of the translation, all original comments and program labels are passed through intact to the translated program. […] The program translation proceeds in a five-step process. First, the program is scanned and assembled to produce symbol values and locations. Second, the program structure is analyzed and decomposed into basic blocks. Third, the basic blocks are analyzed to determine program flow and resource usage. Forth, the block structure and register allocation data is gathered into a listing for the user. Fifth, the flow information and source program are used to produce the 8086 source program. […]
[…] Kildall: […] A year and a half ago I was probably spending 75% of my time on the business and 25% on programming. XLT-86 was a product I was working on at that time, and it took me nine months to do it. That would have been a three-month project if I had been able to concentrate on it. […]
[…] Rolander: I mentioned earlier that Gary liked to approach a problem as an architect. […] And he would draw the most beautiful pictures of his data structures. […] And when he finished that […] and was convinced those data structures were now correct, he would go into just an unbelievable manic coding mode. He would just go for as many as 20 hours a day […] he was just gone during these periods of time. On a couple of those occasions, when he'd get something running the first time, which could be in the middle of night. And all you who have written software have seen that, for example, that the first time it comes up on the screen, you've got to tell somebody. My wife Lori will tell you that I had a couple of those calls in the middle of the night, LOGO was one example, XLT 86 was another, where he got it running the first time, and he had to have somebody see it. So it didn't matter what time it was, he'd call me, I'd have to come over and see it running. […][30] [31] (33 pages)
[…] The XLT86 program occupies approximately 30K bytes of main memory. The remainder of memory, up to the base of CP/M, stores the program graph that represents the 8086 program being translated […] A 64K CP/M system allows translation of 8080 programs of up to approximately 6K. […][32] [33]
[…] Ironically, many of the techniques Gary pioneered are being rediscovered now, ten years later. Apple and DEC are touting binary recompilation as a "new" technology for porting existing software to the PowerPC or Alpha architecture. Actually, DRI introduced an 8080-to-8086 binary recompiler in the early 1980s. […]
[…] Kildall founded Digital Research, Inc. (DRI) in 1976, which is now part of Novell. […] In the 1980's, DRI introduced a binary recompiler. […]
In March, 1995, the Software Publishers Association posthumously honored Gary for his contributions to the computer industry. They listed some of his accomplishments: […] In the 1980s, through DRI, he introduced a binary recompiler. […]
[…] 8086/88 Assembler With Translator $99.50 Available for MSDOS, PCDOS, or CP/M-86 […] This package also includes […] an 8080 to 8086 source code translator (no limit on program size to translate) […] Z-8000 Cross Development Package $199.50 […] This powerful package includes a Z-80/8080 to Z-8000 Assembly Language Source Code Translator […] The Translators provide Z-8000 source code from the Intel 8080 or Zilog Z-80 source code. The Z-8000 source code used by these packages are in the unique 2500AD syntax using Zilog mnemonics designed to make the transition from Z-80 code writing to Z-8000 easy […] 8086 and Z-8000 XASM includes source code translators […](NB. 8086/88 XASM available for Z-80 CP/M, Zilog System 8000 UNIX, Olivetti M-20 PCOS; Z-8000 XASM for Z-80 CP/M, MS-DOS, CP/M-86, Olivetti M-20 PCOS.)
[…] Zilog, Inc. has introduced a series of modular and expandable product development systems (PDS) for Z8-, Z80-, and Z8000-based microcomputer designs. All four versions of the PDS 8000 system – models 10, 15, 25, and 30 – have […] A standard feature of each system is a Z8000 software development package, which includes the ZDOSII file management routine, PLZ/ASM high-level structured assemblers, a Z80/Z8000 translator and a Z8000 L and MACP macroprocessor. […] The models 10 and 25 have the same specifications as the models 15 and 30, respectively. but the 10 and 25 do not include the Z8000 development module. The PDS Model 10 is priced at $10,485; the Model 15 at $11,995; the Model 25 at $20,000; and the Model 35 at $21,500. All four systems are available 30 days after receipt of the order. […]
[…] Table 1. 16-Bit Microprocessor Characteristics […] Zilog 8000 […] Software […] Zilog expects to support Z8000 with translators for PLZ, BASIC, COBOL and FORTRAN. These will permit conversion of Z80 code to Z8000 code, since Z8000 set is superset to Z80. […]
[…] Digital Research has also announced plans for a Z8000 version of CP/M. Application software will be moved to the Z8000 when more development software is available. A commercially available translator from Z80 to Z8000 is needed. […]
[…] both Zilog and AMC offered Z80-to-Z8000 translation programs. Like the Intel 8080-to-8086 translator, it resulted in immediate bloat unless you were willing to hand-optimize the result. Much early MS-DOS code was auto-translated and tweaked 8080 CP/M code. I know that much of SuperCalc for the PC was, for example. Early (e.g. 3.3) versions of Wordstar for DOS probably also were. […] There were Z80-to-Z8000 source-code translators, but it wasn't a straightforward process ("strict" and "relaxed" modes; sometimes one Z80-to-several Z8000 instructions). The 8086 is much closer to the 8080 than the Z8000 is to the Z80. […]
[…] Achtung C- und Basic-Programmierer! […] Jetzt gibt es den B→C TRANSPILER das einzigartige Umwandlungs-Software-System von ARC […] Der B→C TRANSPILER übersetzt lauffähige AMIGA-Basicprogramme in compilierbaren C-Code. […] Durch Spezialbefehle kann C-Code in Basicprogramme direkt integriert werden. […] Basic-Befehle werden erweitert transpiliert. (HAM-Modus, IFF, usw. werden unterstützt). […] Mit diesem Konzept neuester Generation verbindet der B→C TRANSPILER auf einzigartige Weise die Vorteile eines Interpreters mit denen eines Compilers […][1]
[…] Achtung C- und Basic-Programmierer! […] Jetzt gibt es den B→C TRANSPILER das einzigartige Umwandlungs-Software-System von ARC […] Der B→C TRANSPILER übersetzt lauffähige AMIGA-Basicprogramme in compilierbaren C-Code. […] Durch Spezialbefehle kann C-Code in Basicprogramme direkt integriert werden. […] Basic-Befehle werden erweitert transpiliert. (HAM-Modus, IFF, usw. werden unterstützt). […] Mit diesem Konzept neuester Generation verbindet der B→C TRANSPILER auf einzigartige Weise die Vorteile eines Interpreters mit denen eines Compilers […][1]
[…] The name Transpiler is meant to suggest a combination of transputer and compiler, in just the same way that transputer was coined from transistor and computer (i.e., a computer that is also a component). […](NB. Uses the term Occam transpiler as a synonym for a source-to-source compiler working as a pre-processor that takes a normal Occam program as input and derives a new Occam source code as output with link-to-channel assignments etc. added to it thereby configuring it for parallel processing to run as efficient as possible on a network of transputers.)
[…] "Unless you have a translating scheme that takes account of the peculiar idiosyncrasies of the target microprocessor, there is no way that an automatic translator can work," explains Daniel Davis, a programmer with Digital Research. "You'll end up with direct transliterations." […] In spite of all these limitations, progress has been made recently in the development of translators. Most notably, Digital Research has introduced its eight- to 16-bit assembly code translator. Based on research performed by Digital Research president Gary Kildall, the XLT86 appears to offer advances over previously available software translator technology. Like Sorcim's Trans and Intel's Convert 86, Kildall's package translates assembly-language code from an 8080 microprocessor to an 8086. However, Kildall has applied a global flow analysis technique that takes into account some of the major drawbacks of other translators. The procedure analyzes the register and flag usage in sections of 8080 code in order to eliminate nonessential code. According to Digital Research programmer Davis, the algorithm Kildall uses allows the translator to consider the context as it translates the program. Until now, one of the major problems with any translator program has been the inability of the software to do much more than transliteration. If Digital Research's new translator actually advances the technology to the point where context can be considered, then more software translators may proliferate in the microcomputer marketplace.
[…] Digital Research's XLT86 takes standard 8080 source code in a format compatible with ASM, MAC, or RMAC assemblers and converts the 8080 source code to 8086 source code in a format compatible with ASM86 operating under either CP/M-80 or CP/M-86. Since XLT86 is written in PL/I-80, the translator can run either stand-alone under CP/M-80 or for cross development under VAX/VMS. It produces optimized 8086 code in a five-phase, multipass process, doing global data-flow analysis to determine optimal register usage. Although macro definitions are not supported, conditional-assembly directives are […] if you want macro expansion, you can use a pass through MAC or RMAC to produce a PRN file that can be edited […] to produce an expanded source file for input acceptable to XLT86. XLT86 does not recognize Z80 instructions. XLT86 passes repeat loops through to the 8086 source code. XLT86 analyzes the source program in its entirety, determining the block structure and the register/flag usage. Working from this information, it translates the code to 8086 assembler code in an optimized way. The decision algorithm for each instruction type is given in […] the manual […] Register mapping generally follows […] with a loose relationship between the 8086 AX and the 8080 PSW; the exact relationship is determined from register usage at translate time. Many runtime options are available to control the translation process, both on the command line and embedded in the 8080 source text. […] XLT86 is a sophisticated program that does a reasonable job of optimizing the translation of 8080 source code to 8086 source code. BDOS calls from CP/M-80 are mapped into BDOS calls that are compatible with CP/M-86. XLT86 has special features for handling translation of conditional JMP and CALL instructions in 8080 source code. In the 8080 instructions, JMP and CALL instructions are capable of reaching any address within the 64K-byte region. The 8086 conditional JMP instructions can reach only 128 bytes on either side of the IP […] register. XLT86 examines the target of the conditional JMP. If the target cannot be reached, XLT86 changes the sense of the conditional JMP and skips over a long JMP to the target address. Since there are no conditional CALL or RET instructions in the 8086, the sense of the condition is changed and a short conditional JMP is performed to skip over an unconditional CALL or RET. […] the segment registers allow for separation of code and data regions. […] XLT86 examines an expression and determines the proper segment for the particular instruction. […][7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] (13 pages)
[…] MS-DOS Design Criteria […] The primary design requirement of MS-DOS was CP/M-80 translation compatibility, meaning that, if an 8080 or Z80 program for CP/M were translated for the 8086 according to Intel's published rules, that program would execute properly under MS-DOS. Making CP/M-80 translation compatibility a requirement served to promote rapid development of 8086 software, which, naturally, Seattle Computer was interested in. There was partial success: those software developers who chose to translate their CP/M-80 programs found that they did indeed run under MS-DOS, often on the first try. Unfortunately, many of the software developers Seattle Computer talked to in the earlier days preferred to simply ignore MS-DOS. Until the IBM Personal Computer was announced, these developers felt that CP/M-86 would be the operating system of 8086/8088 computers. […][21] [22]
[…] 1. Read Z80 source code file written in CP/M format and convert to 86-DOS format. 2. Translator program translates Z80 source code to 8086 source code. 3. Resident assembler assembles the translated 8086 source code to 8086 object code. 4. Minor hand correction and optimization. (A recent 19K Z80 program translation took us about four hours to fix up. Even without optimization, it ran twice as fast as the original! […])[23]
[…] To get major software developers to port their products from the 8080/Z80 to the 8086, I decided we had to make it as easy as possible. I had already written a Z80-to-8086 source code translator (hosted on the 8080 and CP/M). My plan was that running an 8080 CP/M program through the translator would be the only work required by software developers to port the program to the 8086. In other words, the interface used by applications to request operating system services would be exactly the same as CP/M's after applying the translation rules. […]
[…] Last week was the semi-annual California Computer Swap Meet. This event is organized by John Craig […] Sorcim […] was debuting […] new products at the show […] Their other product was TRANS-86. TRANS-86 will take any CP/M compatible 8080/8085/Z-80 source code file and translate it into 8086 code. You can then assemble the new file with ACT-86. […]
[…] XLT-86 1.1 […] XLT-86 is an analytical translator program written in PL/I-80. It reads the entire 8080 source program, assembles it to machine code, analyzes the register, memory and flag utilization, and emits an optimized 8086 assembly-language program. […] There is also a version of XLT-86 for those of you who have access to a VAX 11/750 or 11/780. This version can translate much larger programs. It also costs $8000. […] While the translator adds some labels and equates to the source program as part of the translation, all original comments and program labels are passed through intact to the translated program. […] The program translation proceeds in a five-step process. First, the program is scanned and assembled to produce symbol values and locations. Second, the program structure is analyzed and decomposed into basic blocks. Third, the basic blocks are analyzed to determine program flow and resource usage. Forth, the block structure and register allocation data is gathered into a listing for the user. Fifth, the flow information and source program are used to produce the 8086 source program. […]
[…] Kildall: […] A year and a half ago I was probably spending 75% of my time on the business and 25% on programming. XLT-86 was a product I was working on at that time, and it took me nine months to do it. That would have been a three-month project if I had been able to concentrate on it. […]
[…] 8086/88 Assembler With Translator $99.50 Available for MSDOS, PCDOS, or CP/M-86 […] This package also includes […] an 8080 to 8086 source code translator (no limit on program size to translate) […] Z-8000 Cross Development Package $199.50 […] This powerful package includes a Z-80/8080 to Z-8000 Assembly Language Source Code Translator […] The Translators provide Z-8000 source code from the Intel 8080 or Zilog Z-80 source code. The Z-8000 source code used by these packages are in the unique 2500AD syntax using Zilog mnemonics designed to make the transition from Z-80 code writing to Z-8000 easy […] 8086 and Z-8000 XASM includes source code translators […](NB. 8086/88 XASM available for Z-80 CP/M, Zilog System 8000 UNIX, Olivetti M-20 PCOS; Z-8000 XASM for Z-80 CP/M, MS-DOS, CP/M-86, Olivetti M-20 PCOS.)
[…] Zilog, Inc. has introduced a series of modular and expandable product development systems (PDS) for Z8-, Z80-, and Z8000-based microcomputer designs. All four versions of the PDS 8000 system – models 10, 15, 25, and 30 – have […] A standard feature of each system is a Z8000 software development package, which includes the ZDOSII file management routine, PLZ/ASM high-level structured assemblers, a Z80/Z8000 translator and a Z8000 L and MACP macroprocessor. […] The models 10 and 25 have the same specifications as the models 15 and 30, respectively. but the 10 and 25 do not include the Z8000 development module. The PDS Model 10 is priced at $10,485; the Model 15 at $11,995; the Model 25 at $20,000; and the Model 35 at $21,500. All four systems are available 30 days after receipt of the order. […]
[…] Digital Research has also announced plans for a Z8000 version of CP/M. Application software will be moved to the Z8000 when more development software is available. A commercially available translator from Z80 to Z8000 is needed. […]
[…] Rolander: I mentioned earlier that Gary liked to approach a problem as an architect. […] And he would draw the most beautiful pictures of his data structures. […] And when he finished that […] and was convinced those data structures were now correct, he would go into just an unbelievable manic coding mode. He would just go for as many as 20 hours a day […] he was just gone during these periods of time. On a couple of those occasions, when he'd get something running the first time, which could be in the middle of night. And all you who have written software have seen that, for example, that the first time it comes up on the screen, you've got to tell somebody. My wife Lori will tell you that I had a couple of those calls in the middle of the night, LOGO was one example, XLT 86 was another, where he got it running the first time, and he had to have somebody see it. So it didn't matter what time it was, he'd call me, I'd have to come over and see it running. […][30] [31] (33 pages)