Dragon Machine Language For The Absolute Beginner

From The Dragon Archive

Edited by John Vander Reyden, with contributions from Denver Jeans and Craig McFarlane

Copyright © 1983 Beam Software

Published by Melbourne House

United Kingdom ISBN 0 86161 130 6

Australia ISBN 0 86759 125 0


From the Rear Cover:

Write faster, more powerful space saving programs for your Dragon.

Written exclusively for Dragon users, Dragon Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner offers a complete instruction course in 6809 Machine Language, with particular reference to the Dragon 32.

Even with no previous experience of computer languages, the easy-to-understand ‘no jargon’ format of this book will enable you to discover the power of the Dragon’s own language.

After introducing you to machine language and the 6809 instruction set, the book provides you with a series of short test programs which are designed to demonstrate all the Dragon’s machine language instructions. These programs illustrate the use of the various instructions, their effects and actions, and will enable you to gain a practical understanding of machine language.

You are encouraged to develop routines with all the instructions in order to become familiar with the 6809’s instructions as well as gaining experience in writing short machine language routines.

In addition to learning machine language, there are sample programs designed to demonstrate the power and potential of machine language in extracting the most from your Dragon. You will find that these programs contain routines that you can use when writing your own programs.

In logical steps the book takes you through a comprehensive course in machine language, including understanding assembly language, designing and writing your own programs and a thorough grounding in the purpose and use of each of the instructions in the 6809 Instruction Set.


Table of contents

  1. The Beginning
  2. What is a Micro-computer?
  3. Computers and Numbers
  4. What is Machine Language?
  5. What is Assembly Language?
  6. The Dragon
  7. The 6809
  8. Easy
  9. Handy
  10. Let's Get Logical
  11. Condition Codes
  12. Stacks and Subroutines
  13. The 6809 Instruction Set
  14. Demonstration Programs
  15. Programming Your Dragon
  16. Sample Programs
  17. Colour Set Table
  18. Graphics Modes
  19. Handy Memory Locations in the Dragon
  20. Handy ROM Routines
  21. ASCII Codes for Keys
  22. Character Codes
  23. Base Conversions
  24. 6809 Instruction Set Summary