what's new: ROMable programs

Prog8 version 11.3.2

Fixed

allow bitwise operation between different types as long as they're the same size. (11.3.1 broke this)
various bugs around word-indexing combined with address-of: &buffer[2000]
code gen error for certain goto array[index] where sometimes the first entry was taken regardless of index

other changes

documentation tweaks

Bug fix release for C64 mostly.

goto array[idx] now assembles correctly again on C64 (or more specifically, on 6502 cpu targets)
fix strings.hash() to correctly assemble on C64 and other targets with a "full zeropage"
fix const evaluation of bitwise expressions (&, |, ^, <<, >>) with signed numbers
fix Java version incompatibility with Java versions older than 21

other improvements:

the math.randrange() family of routines are now much faster
some redundant variable initialization was removed so programs are now smaller
a bit stricter assignment type compatibility checking
added -version switch to just print the compiler version string and license
fixed some IR problems

⚠️ this release contains a bug for the original 6502 machines such as the C64/C128 where invalid code is generated for a goto array[index] statement. A new release with a fix will be made shortly. For the Commander-X16, there is no problem.

what's new: ROMable programs

Use the new %option romable to tell prog8 to generate programs that can be run from ROM.
This means no inline variables and no self-modifying code (something which prog8 uses for 'normal' programs because sometimes it creates smaller or faster code.
Almost all library routines have been made ROM-compatible to support programs like this.
Read the paragraph in the manual for more details.
Note: some routines such as math.rnd have not been modified for ROM use, because the performance hit might be unacceptable for regular programs. Instead, a slower math.rnd_rom has been introduced for ROM use.

other changes

a floating point value is now allowed to be part of a multi-value-return
psg module no longer writes vera psg registers for voices it doesn't use
compiler now supports symlinks in paths
an integer range is now allowed as a choice value in when statements, but be aware that checking large ranges is slow because it will be done simply by value inclusion check and not < or > comparisons
added diskio.loadlib() convenience function to load library blobs
custom compiler targets now include an output_type setting which is XEX for the atari target, for instance.
added -quiet flag to no longer print noise output
examples/vm was renamed to examples/virtual
added cx16.memory_decompress_from_func
added cx16.push_rambank/rombank and cx16.pop_rambank/rombank to avoid having to sacrifice a variable when temporarily setting the bank to another value and restoring it
new routines palette.get_default and palette.set_default to get and set the full 256 colors default VERA palette (requires cx16 kernal rom V49)
strings.rfind now returns the correct result for empty strings

bugfixes

fixed diskio.f_read returning 1 byte less than the actual size read
fixed diskio.f_read_all to deal with errors in a more robust manner, this fixes a problem with the X16 Calypso
better EOF handling in diskio
fix memtop limit when using -varshigh option
fix IRQ related crash because stored vector was overwritten
various other bugfixes and improvements

Important bug fix release with some new features.

Bugs fixed:

C64: graphics.plot() now works again , it was broken since version 10.5
X16: introduced a workaround for SMC issue that could make sys.reset_system() and sys.poweroff_system() not work properly on hardware boards
X16: cx16.VERA_FX_POLY_FILL_H constant value typo fixed
clear error messages instead of compiler crashes for several source code errors
symbol prefixing bug fixed for certain use of %option no_symbol_prefixing
you can once again call a label as a subroutine (but this is now also a footgun warning)
fix code generation error when assigning address of split word array without explicit adressof syntax
better error if module name clash occurs caused by case-insensitive names
fix codegen for @(ptr-offset)=value that was writing bogus values to memory

New stuff:

some range checks can now be evaluated at compile time
introduced %option romable as a start to help generate code that can be put into ROM. There's still a long way to go. But this option now starts generating warnings of code that is generated that will not be able to be put into ROM, so it can help to identify problem points.
Added strings.ncompare to compare strings up to n characters
improved some syntax highlights
more forgiving handling of constants of different types
various optimizations in generated code
internal compiler refactoring to reduce project dependencies and improve API surface for future code generators or tools
more often print the offending source code position that triggers an internal compiler crash
added a sprites/coroutines/defer benchmark module to the benchmarking program

breaking changes

txt.get_cursor() now returns column+row as 2 values
abs() returntype is now unsigned
-sourcelines command line option is changed into -nosourcelines because the default is now to include those source lines in the generated assembly.

libraries

added fileselector example (cx16 and c64)
monogfx can fill with stippling again
added cx16.get_charset()
added sprites.getxy()
diskio: added several routines to only list files or directories

other new stuff

normal (non-asmsub) subroutines can now also return multiple values
support multi-value variable initialization: ubyte a,b,c = multi()
added configurable compilation targets
atari and neo targets are no longer built-in but available as such configurable targets in the examples
added %output library to make it easier to produce loadable libraries
added %jmptable directive to build a JMP-table meant for libraries
added c64os character encodings
no longer clears msb on asmsub argument byte @r0 (r0 was treated as a word before, but it is specified as a byte, so only the Lsb is significant)
code generation improvements and bugfixes

Fixing some problems found in 11.0

Fixes

fixed two possible compiler crashes in library import code (1 for filename CaSiNg issues on widows, 1 for transitive imports done by library modules)
fixed a compiler crash related to array parameter types for subroutines
pet32 target: fixed txt.plot() putting the cursor in the wrong position (col/row were mixed up)
cbm.PLOT(): the order of the return values when getting the cursor position has been swapped, is now colum (in Y) followed by row (in X). This is the same order as the arguments to the routine are given to set the cursor position.
diskio.diskname() could hang on a disk error, this has been fixed
some stricter type checking for multivalue assigns, to avoid possible faulty code generation due to missing type conversion

Additions/changes

added txt.t256c() on the commander X16 to turn 256 color tile mode on or off
updated zsmkit library blob for a fix in the zsm_clearisr() routine
added coroutines library and multitasking example
modified the cx16images.py Python script to work again with newer pillow library version

This is Prog8 version 11.0 - just in time for a nice Christmas present!
It is a new major compiler version because some fundamental things have changed and many new features have been added since version 10.

Breaking changes

the string module has been renamed to strings to be more consistent with others
removed the anyall module. It was inefficient and didn't work correctly
romsub keyword has been removed, extsub is now the only recognized way
the -addmissingrts compiler flag has been removed. No sudden RTS instructions will be inserted in your code. You have to take care that your assembly routines contain one to properly return to their caller.
removed txt.VERA_TEXTMATRIX_BANK and txt.VERA_TEXTMATRIX_ADDR, it's now just txt.VERA_TEXTMATRIX (a long const, see below at new language features)
the sort order of blocks has been changed: blocks with addresses are now sorted last
word arrays are now split by default. To store them in the old sequential memory layout, you can use @nosplit.
the -splitarrays compiler option was changed to -dontsplitarrays and the purpose was inverted accordingly.
cx16.set_screen_mode no longer returns anything. No need to use void anymore. You can still use the actual kernal routine if you are interested in the return status values.
math.crc32 now returns the crc32 value according to the ISO-HDLC standard, which is what zlib/pkzip also uses
sys.sizeof_xxx are renamed to sys.SIZEOF_XXX for consistency

New language features

you can now define const long numbers (that can hold values larger than a word). You can use them in compile time expressions. But there are no long variables yet so the result of such expressions that need to be placed in a variable still has to fit in a byte or word.
new msw and lsw builtin functions (similar to the existing lsb and msb) that return the most and least significant words of a value, respectively. Handy with const long values to be able to put them into word variables.
The msw result can also be used as the ram/rom bank byte! (as long as the address put in is within 24 bits)
the extsub address can now be an expression, handy to define jump tables with offsets. Combine this with the @bank support for extra smooth external library routine integration.
normal subroutines can now also take their arguments in R0-R15 'registers' similarly as asmsubs already could. This is a footgun however! Use wisely!
palette.set_monochrome() has been removed
added a start color index parameter to several routines in the palette module so you can now modify other parts of the color palette instead of only from color 0 onwards
boolean variables, including boolean arrays, can now be memory mapped too.
goto can now jump to a calculated address using any expression instead of just a constant number or identifier
new operators &< and &> to get the address of the LSB and MSB sub-arrays of a split word array, respectively.

New or improved library functions

the zsmkit music player example has been extended with the new zsmkit V2.4 library version. This version is much easier to integrate in prog8 programs
added several float limits contants such as floats.EPSILON, floats.E
added sys.MIN_FLOAT, sys.MAX_FLOAT, and the MIN/MAX values for the integer types as well
added floats.interpolate and math.interpolate to complement the existing LERP routines. Added interpolation example that shows how to use this
added several decompression routines to the compression library: for RLE, ZX0 and TSCrunch compressed data.
improved buffers library and now documented
added sorting library to sort bytes, words, and string arrays.
all flood fill graphics routines (in monogfx, gfx_lores, gfx_hires) now no longer fail to fill certain areas because their out of stack memory problem is fixed (by using the much larger stack from the buffers library)
in diskio, the IO channels are now always reset back to their defaults (screen/keyboard) so that you don't have to do this yourself when you want to read or write stuff to the screen while a file is open.
the palette module has been optimized to be a lot faster and smaller
added palette.set_rgb_nosplit() and set_rgb_be_nosplit() to support passing of @nosplit color arrays.
(the existing routines were modified to work on @split arrays which are now the default storage format for word arrays)
added sprits.pos_batch_nosplit to allow passing @nosplit x/y arrays. The existing pos_batch routine now expects @split word arrays because that is the default
added diskio.get_loadaddress to retrieve the load address of a PRG file (= the first 2 bytes)
added math.crc32_end_result to more naturally retrieve the resulting low and high words of the crc32 result.

Other changes

a problem with diskio was fixed that triggered a bug in the Vice C64 emulator when running on host fs where half of the data disappeared
value range checking has been improved
documentation has been overhauled, redundant syntax chapter mer 8000 ged with the rest
new compiler options -plain to remove ansi escapes from the output, and -ignorefootguns to well... ignore the footgun problems
new coroutines example that shows possible multitasking
various code generation improvements to create smaller and faster code
big internal compiler change to make the type system more versatile for future changes
bugfixes

A patch release that fixes some problems and oversights in the 10.5 release. It is strongly advised to upgrade to this version if you are using 10.5 now.

Changes:

gfx_hires4 module is now named gfx_hires to be consistent with the gfx_lores module
added sprites.reset() routine to remove sprites from the screen
progstart() was added to complement progend()
repeat now supports 65536 iterations
defer can now also be used inside if-statements (the semantics don't change though)
%memtop now specifies the first address NOT to use, to reflect the semantics of the memtop kernal call
memtop now automatically adjusts when you use %address beyond the default
documentation improvements
assembly optimization regression fixed that was caused by wrong label prefixing
fix several compiler crashes
math.mul16_last_upper() is fixed again
internal diskio library restructuring (shouldn't be noticeable for user code)

This is a pretty big release with a lot of changes, some of which that are not backwards compatible with older versions.

Breaking changes:

the compiler is now named 'prog8c' and the jar file accordingly 'prog8-10.5-all.jar'
gfx2 module is gone, it's split into gfx_lores and gfx_hires4 optimized for a single resolution each.
the width and height symbols were renamed to WIDTH and HEIGHT (constants)
and the screen_mode routine is now called graphics_mode.
arrays can no longer be initialized with a single numerical value, it is now required to write out the full initialization array. Or omit it as before to get an array of all zeros. However there is a new syntax to create array literals with repeated values, see below at New Stuff
array to array assignments is no longer supported (other than initialization of variable declaration).
Just use an explicit sys.memcopy(src, dest, sizeof(dest)) or assign array elements individually.
removed block level memory alignment via %option align you now have to use the new @align tags on individual variables
asmsubs no longer get an RTS instruction inserted at the end if it is missing. Make sure you correctly return from assembly routines.
the math module is no longer automatically imported in your program. If you use it you'll need to add %import math
romsub keyword renamed into extsub (because it's not only for ROM routines)
on the C64, the BASIC ROM at $a000-$bfff is now banked out by default. Prog8 programs have a whopping ~50 Kb of contiguous RAM at their disposal ($0801 - $cfff) without having to do memory banking by themselves.
on the C128, the BASIC ROM at $4000-$bfff is now banked out by default. Prog8 programs can now use ~41 Kb of contiguous RAM ($1c00-$bfff) without having to do memory banking by themselves.
program bootstrap code has been moved from the end to the beginning of the program. This shifts up the actual address of the start() routine.

New stuff:

automatic support for calling routines in banked memory, via @bank tag on extsub definitions (formerly romsub). This makes Prog8 the first language on the Commander X16 at least, where you no longer have to manually switch banks when calling routines in another memory bank. This is supported on the X16, C64 and the C128.
added routines for manual memory banking on the C64 c64.banks and c64.getbanks including an example program
added routines for manual memory banking on the C128 c128.banks and c128.getbanks
defer statement for delayed execution (useful for resource cleanups for example). Inspired by the defer statement from Zig, Go, or Swift.
if-expression (prog8's alternative for a ternary operator): result = if x>10 "yes" else "no" It's like an if statement but it is an expression. The if and else parts are also expressions.
per-variable memory alignment via @alignword @alignpage and @align64
new directive %align <interval> inserts a memory alignment command for the assembler at that precise place
new directive %memtop <address> changes the expected max memory location the program is going to use. Can be used to "reserve" a bunch of memory at the end of the available space.
alias statement that aliases a symbol (possibly from another module) by another name locally. Can shorten/clarify code.
added sys.memcmp memory comparison routine (like strcmp, but doesn't stop at 0 byte)
the way block merging is done using %option merge has been overhauled. You can now monkeypatch existing code if you merge in subroutines with an exactly matching signature including the names of the parameters.
added a few new graphics routines in the gfx_lores and gfx_hires4 modules (formerly gfx2). gfx_lores now has a draw mode selection and can draw in EOR mode, useful for non destructive drawing
added diskio.exists to check if a file is already present
added linear interpolation routines math.lerp and floats.lerp and floats.lerp_fast
replaced the old ZSOUND example by the new ZSMKIT example that plays .zsm music on the Commander X16.
floats: added AYINT2 as a safe wrapper around AYINT (used to convert floats to integers). The new routine no longer depends on internal kernal variable locations and should always be used over AYINT.
added experimental neo compiler target (for the Neo6502). Still pretty bare bones but functional
variables can now be marked @dirty to omit initialization of their value. This saves code, but leaves their initial value undefined which is a dangerous footgun, so beware when using this that you properly assign a value to them yourself
array literals with repeated values can now be created using the similar syntax as what was already possible for string literals, type the base array and add * <repeats>. For example [42] * 99 creates an array of 99 times the value 42. That base array can consist of multiple values.

Other changes:

optimizations and bug fixes, as usual.

This release fixes some bugs and improves some things, and adds some new library modules and exampoles, but no major language changes.

breaking changes

removed the broken verafx.mult routine (verafx doesn't support unsigned multiplications. The muls routine is still there, that one works fine)
added verafx.mult16 for just the 16 bit unsigned results that worked fine.
string assignments got somewhat stricter to avoid problematic cases. If your code doesn't compile anymore, you should use string.copy explicitly now to set a new value to a string.

other changes

fixed assembly optimization bug that removed a RTS sometimes. This broke floats.ceil and some other routines.
fixed "raw" output to also properly initialize variables.
fixed C64 floating point sign problem
added experimental compression library, it provides RLE compression and decompression routines. (the RLE algorithm supported is Byterun1/Packbits, which is used in Amiga IFF ILBM images among others)
cx16: added audio module with subroutines to simplify calling the Audio routines in the kernal. The 'audioroutines' example has been updated to use this.
cx16: kernal bank 0 is once again activated at startup to speed up kernal calls
cx16: added callfar2 builtin function that allows you to set A,X,Y and Carry parameters instead of only AY.
cx16: added color fade routines to the palette module
cx16: added a port of the c64's "balloonflight" example. Added 'starszoom' example.
added sys.sizeof_byte etc etc constants that are the memory sizes of the given datatypes
many code optimizations
several error message improvements.
documentation improvements.
added 'fractal-tree' example.

Thanks to the people in the Prog8 channel on the X16 discord for their contributions.

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Bug fix release for C64 mostly.

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what's new: ROMable programs

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Fixing some problems found in 11.0

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Releases: irmen/prog8

version 11.3.2

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v11.3.1

Bug fix release for C64 mostly.

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v11.3

what's new: ROMable programs

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version 11.2

Important bug fix release with some new features.

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version 11.1

breaking changes

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version 11.0.1

Fixing some problems found in 11.0

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version 11.0

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version 10.5.1

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version 10.5

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version 10.4.2

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