Once again, Ray Kingsley has brought out one of the most powerful machine-code monitors I have ever seen. Everyone planning to write machine code routines on the 2068 owes it to himself to buy a copy of this package.
This latest version of HOT Z includes disassembly and data displays, ROM floating-point code display, four letter names for commonly used addresses (built-in and user-defined), hex code input, two breakpoints, single-step with register, flag, and stack display, LOAD ZX/TS tapes, and, most importantly, a powerful on-the-fly assembler with delete and insert code commands. Of course, it also SAVEs and LOADS byte files, prints to the TS2040, does hex arithmetic, block moves, and block compares. A slightly more complicated version of the block move will also recalculate absolute jumps and calls (unless they reference the ROM). We’re talking about a powerful package here. In fact, HOT Z has more functions than the 2068 has keys. This can be a problem: how do we access all the commands?
Sinware’s solution consists of dividing the commands into three sets: read mode (the default), single-step mode, and edit mode. Since the command to run machine code lies in the edit mode, to try your program out you must first position the cursor to the starting address, enter edit mode (via symbol-shift A), then set your routine running (via extended-shift R) . You get used to it after a while, but I would prefer having all commands that make sense in any mode available in every mode. Why can’t I tell HOT Z to execute my code in read mode?
Besides the maze of keystrokes required for some actions, the only other reservations I have about HOT Z pertain to the manual. It runs about 40 pages, approximately half tutorial and half reference, but has no index or table of contents.
I am unable to make good use of the manual because I know what I want to do and why, I just don’t know how. The manual insists on telling me what and why before how. Though it contains two tables describing the command set (one with single line descriptions and one with paragraph descriptions), some commands seem to have fallen through the cracks on one table or the other. Commands in the manual have names according to the keystroke used to access them, thus execute code is INT (extended-shift R) . Sinware picked that key because it Runs code; I think calling it ExShift-R would have been clearer.
HOT Z itself never refers to the names for the commands; it just executes them. Why give machine code monitor commands BASIC names?
HOT Z does everything I need and want it to do. It does not deal with 64 column mode or memory bank switching by itself; you have to write code for these if you want to use them. It LOADS quickly and reliably and runs lightening fast. Ray Kingsley has made many important and intelligent decisions about how the system works. For this size computer, I can’t think of a better way to write machine code: Nothing else I’ve seen gives you the power of the processor without eliminating the beauty of the system.