Pelle,
The following is what I wrote about my project on my project site. It was done for fun for my own enjoyment, but I thought I would make it available to the general population just in the event someone might want to experiment with it. It's not meant to be a serious language compiler... rather an educational or hobbyist tool.
"I did some assembly language programming many years ago and found it
both challenging and enjoyable. That was at a time when higher level
languages were costly and not nearly as efficient as ASM. However,
over time, as they evolved and became affordable and in some cases,
even free, that was no longer the case. Most modern high-level
languages are nearly as efficient as assembly language. In only
certain instances might one find it beneficial to write small bits of
assembly code to tweak an application. For the most part, gone are
the days of writing entire applications, even operating systems, in
assembly language.
I applaud the development of high-level languages because they have
certainly made programming much easier and safer than in the days of
ASM. But, at the same time, I miss the challenge of coding in that
language. I certainly have no interest in re-learning ASM, as I have
surely forgotten all that I knew in those days and it's a process I
no longer have the patience to repeat.
So... just for the fun of it, I have developed a new assembly-like
programming language to recapture some of that challenge and
enjoyment that I experienced long ago. The new language is called
Pseudo Assembly Language (PASM).
PASM occupies a spot somewhere between a 2nd and 3rd generation
language (ie. between assembly and C), ergo, it may be considered a
generation 2.5 language;-) It gives all appearances of being a
standard assembly language, but in reality it is completely 3rd
generation, in fact, it compiles to C. PASM comes in 2 flavors... Low-
Level and High-Level. In Low-Level PASM you do not have the benefit
of any modern programming constructs like IF...THEN...ELSE, WHILE,
FOR, etc. You are required to get by on just the basics, using "jump"
statements to control program flow. This presents quite a few
challenges and offers the greatest learning experience. In High-Level
PASM, all such modern constructs are available, and make the PASM
programming experience much easier, yet still quite a bit more
complicated than a modern language. You may ask, "Why would anyone
want to program in PASM?". Well, I've given one answer in my opening
statement above. But another reason lies in its educational value.
It's my belief that today's programming students have missed out on
something by jumping directly into high-level languages without the
benefit of the invaluable learning process that occurs when one is
required to think out a problem using only the most basic of tools.
It helps you better understand the true roots of a problem when you
are forced to think at such a basic level. I feel it can help improve
your programming skills when ultimately applied to a higher level
language."
P.S I still can't find the License anywhere!
