Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit | asdefghyk's commentslogin

RE "....Books to learn 6502 ASM and the Apple II...."

Suggest to look at some of the archives of old Apple Magazines from around the Apple I era , cira late 70s and early 80s.

Some of them would have had assembly language programming columns. I recall one Named Softtalk , but there where many. There are other Sites than Archive.org. Some archive sites solely devoted to early apple computers like Apple 2


[Off TOpic somewhat] This post made me immediately recall, the hours I spent playing Apple Invaders, 1979

Pinball Construction Set, by Bill Bludge

Chop Lifter, modeled on 1979–1981 Iran Hostage Crisis, Dan Gorlin, Brøderbund 1982

Castle Wolfenstein (1981) (Muse) by Silas Warner

Red Alert (1981) Olaf Lubeck, Broderbund

I still have some of these original games and the artwork in the shed.....

All classic Apple games of very early 80s

At the time, the programming was recognized as amazing, the sound and graphics. It was a marvel that it was achieved on such a low resource machine ....


The answer would depend on what programming experience you have? Do you have any assembly language experience ? with other targets? ie have you used an assembler ( and maybe linker ) before. Are you familiar with hex? bytes, bits etc , You will learn this and much more ...

Id look for a book that targets Assembly programming on a Apple 2, ie not a book on general 6502 programming.

   Such a book Id expect to discuss things like Apple 2 memory map , Apple 2 hardware and how they are used in assembler language. 
Hopefully the book would also provide guidance using a particular assembler ( hopefully still available)

I googled phrase Apple 2 assembly language programming for beginners?

and lots of very good looking links popped up.

You aim is a challenging task. Much to learn. Good luck. However entirely do able these days.

My background is electronics engineer, embedded programing on in assembler (some Motorola processors and others) and C for a few years before moving on to other things ....

The book Assembly Lines: The Complete Book available as a FREE PDF download from .... site https://ct6502.org/product/assembly-lines-the-complete-book/

INCLUDES All 33 of Roger Wagner’s Assembly Lines articles from Softalk magazine, plus appendices, in one complete volume.


I have litteraly no programming experience, that's partly why I want to learn 6502 Assembly.

Assembly is a type of programming that is unlike most programming languages, and as such, would be a really tough introduction to the field.

Can you explain a bit more about how you became interested in assembly and programming the Apple II? And specifically, why you want to start the journey towards programming there?


Much easier to start with BASIC. After all, why not?

I respectfully disagree, BASIC/Java/Arduino hides too much about how the CPU works from users.

Getting a 6502 kit from Ben Eater, and walking though how the CPU works will implicitly show how languages abstracted away whats actually happening. And more importantly, the skills necessary to understand how to write efficient programs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnzuMJLZRdU&list=PLowKtXNTBy...

https://eater.net/6502

Starting with a simple architecture is highly recommended. =3


I second this -- I just found the Ben Eater series a month or so ago and put together his computer clock over the holidays. It really helps you understand clock cycles, logic chips, etc, and is a good foundation for the 6502 kit you build later in the course. And learning Assembly before BASIC is the right learning path IMO, if only to understand how CPU registers work at the electron level.

If one is interested in how internal PC registers work, than these build series do the classic eeprom microcode based CPU builds. Fabian's series is highly accessible, and builds a python based assembler from scratch. James series ends with a simple game design.

Cheers, =3

"Build a Superscalar CPU" (Fabian Schuiki)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwjMLyBU4RU&list=PLyR4neQXqQ...

https://github.com/fabianschuiki/superscalar-cpu

"Making an 8 Bit pipelined CPU" (James Sharman)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iHag4k4yEg&list=PLFhc0MFC8M...


Starting with Assembly is simply a bad idea because the tooling is terrible, and the learning curve of the tooling is steep. Filled with arcane codes and abbreviations and workflow right out the gate.

Programming concepts are pretty much universal. Being distanced from computer architecture is not a limitation for novice programmers, Python et al succeeds for a reason.

If you're determined to start with assembly, then I hope you can find someone to help you get started with all the machinations necessary to get from LDA #0 to A9 00 with as little drama as possible. Someone to show you how to use the assembler, what the directives mean, the linker, a symbolic debugger (if you're lucky). Someone to provide you with a .DUMPREG "START OF SORT" and .DUMPMEM BUFF $80 "AFTER INPUT" macros that you can liberally scatter throughout your code so you actually progress and get some insight into what the heck you code is doing. Perhaps some way to stop your programs that doesn't include hitting the reset button on the machine.

I mention that because, again, the tooling is terrible. All of the is easier said than done. None of the assembly books address this, none of the assembly program reference guides do either. Assembly is VERY black box. It's a large step up to even get started.

It's much easier to "learn programming" first at a higher level, where you can quickly progress and succeed, before turning into the dark hole that is assembly, particularly on older machines.

At least on a KIM-1 you can hit the STOP button and cursor through memory (being conscious that the memory architecture of the KIM is quite funky), something that simple is quite difficult on an Apple ][.


In general, Assembly for a simple well documented CPU is fairly close to most familiar calculator operations, and is demonstrated as a 1 to 1 relationship in the binary firmware. If folks drop on abstractions like Scratch/Basic/Python/Java the students will develop a random notion of what Register/Stack/Heap even means.

I would recommend looking at a few random samples of Ben's build series, as he covers most first year subjects in subtle efficient ways.

Soldering kit PCB or Emulators are insufficient to demonstrate a physical bus wire harness, clock timing, and memory layout. Best of luck =3


Starting with the 6502 is going to bring you up hard against its addressing modes. Better IMHO to learn about memory and how to access it using arrays in BASIC first.

My opinion differs - learning how memory is accessed via assembly language will make it super easy to understand e.g. how C pointers actually work, something which can be surprisingly difficult for those who go directly to a high level (compared to assembly) language, but very easy if you come from machine code/assembly.

Depends on learning goals, as BASIC teaches people some really bad habits.

They say "one always ends up coding in whatever your first language was... regardless of what language you are using".

People could always bring up the BASIC software Rom at the end of the build if interest arises after learning how a simple computer works. =3

https://github.com/chelsea6502/BeebEater


copyright reasons?

Both are a copyright violation

Could add one or more (reprograble?) FPGA's for extra? processing power OR reconfiguration ease to such a card ......

I've often wondered why such a card (with FPGA) is not available for retro? computer emulation or simulation ??


How can I translate this to English?

Seems to be Dutch.

I got from the below Google Translate .... Not sure its all the article ...

The Royal Danish Navy's Thetis-class warship HDMS Vaedderen sails along sea ice off the coast of Nuuk, Greenland, on April 2, 2025. Photo: Juliette Pavy/Bloomberg via Getty Images

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION has threatened that if it cannot buy Greenland, it will seize it by military force. Senior adviser Stephen Miller even stated that "no one will fight the United States militarily over Greenland's future." However, in the event of a military attack, Danish forces are obligated to shoot first and ask questions later.

"Danish military units have a duty to defend Danish territory if it is exposed to armed attack, including by taking immediate defensive measures if necessary," Tobias Roed Jensen, spokesperson for the Danish Defence Command, told The Intercept, citing a 1952 royal decree that applies to the entire Kingdom of Denmark, including Greenland.

Jensen said the decree ensures that "Danish forces can act to defend the Kingdom of Denmark in situations where Danish territory or Danish military units are attacked, even if the circumstances make it impossible to await further political or military instructions."

The fact that Denmark's small army claims to be ready to defend Greenland has not deterred US imperial ambitions.

"One way or another, we'll get Greenland," President Donald Trump said Sunday. On Monday, Florida Republican Congressman Randy Fine introduced a bill authorizing Trump "to take all necessary steps to annex or acquire Greenland as a territory of the United States."

That same day, a bipartisan coalition in the House, led by Democratic Representative Bill Keating of Massachusetts and Republican Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska, introduced the No Funds for NATO Invasion Act. This bill would prohibit federal funds from being used for the invasion of a NATO member state or territory, and would prohibit any US official or employee from taking action to carry out an invasion of a NATO member state or territory.

Three sources on Capitol Hill told The Intercept that Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.—the ranking Democrat on the Defense Budget Subcommittee—has opposed adding similar provisions to the defense budget bill to avoid disrupting negotiations with Republicans.

“Frankly, it’s a huge, unnecessary mistake,” a congressional aide told The Intercept. “By refusing to commit to the NATO language, Coons is giving Republicans exactly what they want without getting anything in return, and he’s doing it at the expense of our most crucial alliances.”

Coons is also leading a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers on a trip to Copenhagen this week to meet with Danish and Greenlandic government officials. His office did not respond to requests for comment before publication.

Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland will meet with Vice President J.D. Vance and Foreign Minister Marco Rubio at the White House on Wednesday, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told reporters.

THE UNITED STATES already has a military foothold in Greenland, the world's largest non-continental island. The US has long maintained a military garrison there, Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base. The War Department's northernmost installation is critical to US missile warning, missile defense, and space surveillance missions, including advanced radars and satellite command and control from Pituffik Tracking Station. Last week, defense contractor InDyne Inc. was awarded a little-noticed multibillion-dollar contract for missile warning, missile defense, and space surveillance mission services at six locations, including Pituffik.

On Sunday, Trump repeated his unsubstantiated claims that there are “Russian destroyers and submarines and Chinese destroyers and submarines everywhere” in Greenland and that “Russia or China” will take over if the US doesn’t.

Imbalanced is an understatement for the disparity between the armed forces of the United States and Denmark. The former has approximately 1.3 million active-duty troops. The latter only 13,100. “Their defense consists of two dog sleds,” Trump said of Greenland.

The Danish Defense Command acknowledged that the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol is part of the armed forces. This patrol, stationed in Daneborg in East Greenland, consists of about a dozen soldiers, in addition to the dogs, and maintains


For the best part of a decade, Animorph Co-operative, a London-based software development organisation, had harboured a dream of improving memory for people with dementia through a device that builds cross-sensory associations.

RE How to make my website exist for 100 years?

Get it archived in Wayback machine and other web archive sites ....


This is of course assuming that Internet Archive will still exist in 100 years.

And that Internet will still exist in 100 years

The Internet Archive would not require the Internet to continue to store digital data, nor to ingest additional digital data. As long as the bills get paid and people watch the machine, the data would remain on disk and accessible.

The Library of Congress has existed for ~225 years, for example.


There's a huge difference though between storing books, magazines and newspapers versus storing digital media.

One requires more electricity than the other, and custodians of somewhat different skills. A sysadmin is a librarian and custodian with technology skills. If you can vault and custodian physical archives at scale, you can do the same for digital data (imho, based on experience with both). You’re simply building resilient systems on durable primitives.

I’m hopeful for a future where you can potentially carry all recorded knowledge on a device and media you can fit in something somewhat human portable [1]. But until then, humans interested will maintain and continually improve archival and information retrieval systems to preserve and make accessible knowledge.

[1] SPhotonix – 360TB into 5-inch glass disc with femtosecond laser - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268911 - December 2025 (27 comments)


And that anything will still exist in 100 years

And that anyone will be there to observe whether anything still exists in 100 years

Re Wind and Solar Buildout.

The NEXT more challenging part is to build the necessary storage and "power network transmission lines" so that the supply can be made ( Large Scale ) reliable - 24/7 , independent of the weather.


RE ".....Ronald Reagan -- a president who did many questionable/bad things..."

Not being in the common demographic of this site , I had to google this - as I was not aware of any ..... It educated me. It made me immedicably wonder where the current president would fit into ... since the google also had questions and claimed answers/OPINIONS too " who was worst US president etc... The current presidents situation is still being played out - obviously ...


Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: