THE DISASSEMBLER V1.1 --------------------- A product from Wosfilm! Re-reviewed by Frankenstein. In issue #2 I wrote a quite neutral review of 'The Disassembler'. Now I've got the final version and I'll let you know my practical view on this program. First of all I must say that the user interface of TD is nothing to complain about. It works great. But let's go the the point of the actual use of the program, which is; disassemble files. One disadvantage of the original version of TD is the copy protection. This protection caused problems when I tried to use TD with an other DOS. The other thing is that I had to make my drive 'unhappy' because it crashed on the protection in the 'happy' mode. For games this wouldn't be such a problem, but for a utility I think it's very frustrating. When I tried TD on a double density disk I discovered that it worked fine with separate DD sectors, but it wouldn't work on DD files! When the labels are displayed, it can't be stopped with the spacebar. There's also a small bug in TD; if you input a wrong filename by 'enter filename' it generates an error. This is quite normal, but when you try to input a filename the second time, you can ruin the input window! This is what they call a real 'fool proof' bug. Now I have to confess that I'm spoiled by looking at a disassembler for the Atari ST. But therefore it's proved that TD is not perfect. Some of the 'disadvantages' mentioned here, are also described in the manual. This is a positive point about TD. The manual is very clear. If you compare TD to 'SourceGen' (source generator for ATMAS), you'll like TD a 100 times better. SourceGen is one of the most user UN-frienndly programs I've seen, while TD is remarkably user friendly. One comment which I've mentioned before is the lack of supporting special labels. When I made a 'source' with TD, it was difficult to understand. Compare both statements and see what I mean: STA AJ7 STA PORTB Both are translated in 'STA $D301'. I'm sorry, but I just have to mention the great options of the disassembler for the Atari ST; ST-DIGGER. Maybe this will help to improve TD.. To begin with, ST-DIGGER (SD) has an option to manipulate the source and load/save these changes. You can point to pieces of source and tell SD it has to be displayed as; mnemonics, data (DFB), text (ASC) or words (DFW). This way you can first look at the file as text and indicate which parts of the file have to be displayed as text. SD always generates a ready to assemble 'source', no matter how you manipulate it. When going through the source you mostly see parts which most probably isn't code, but data.. For example (in XL terms): ASL ASL ASL ASL ASL ASL ASL ... etc. When you see this, you know that this piece of the file is data, so what you do is point to the first ASL and let SD show it as DFB. Results in (in XL terms): DFB $0A,$0A,$0A,$0A,$0A,$0A.. etc.. With SD it's possible to define data, text or mnemonics from one point till the first label found! This is a very useful option. Let's say you've got a piece of text, followed by subroutines.. ... nonsense instructions ... because it's text. ... ... J10 LDA #0 subroutine example STA 710 RTS A simple point to the first 'nonsense' intruction could result in.... ASC %THIS IS AN EXAMPLE% J10 LDA #0 STA 710 RTS Also notice the small gap between the text and the subroutine. Isn't that exactly how you would program it yourself? That's also the case for JMP and RTS instructions. I think it wouldn't be a big trouble to generate one blank line after such instructions, and it really makes a difference! ... JMP J11 J09 LDA #$FF STA A10 RTS J10 LDA #$00 STA A04 RTS J11 LDA #$0A ... Compare this to: ... JMP J11 J09 LDA #$FF STA PORTB RTS J10 LDA #$00 STA COLOR2 RTS J11 LDA #$0A ... Back to THE DISASSEMBLER.. The final conclusion was already mentioned and I still think the same way about it. BUY THIS PROGRAM! I hope WosFilm will take all this critics seriously and use it to improve his product. Please also keep the possibilities of our XL/XE in mind. Maybe the program could get smart by searching for display list settings (for example) and switch over in some sort of ANTIC disassembler? pff.. silly me.. Well, I have to admit that it's impossible to get exactly the same source as the one who made it, though I don't feel bad about this fact. PS: Sorry for talking so much about an ST program. I'll kick myself!! EDITOR'S NOTE: Auch!