KAL4 Assembler on the Web


N.B.Tentative proof-of-concept version.

There is some info that might be useful here (opens in a separate window or tab).

Type in your KAL4 program (paper tape format) here:

Note: The use of $ or underline where the manual requires an asterisk. This explained in detail here.
It comes about because of the desire to use asterisk for the KDF9 × character which is not available on most keyboards.
Options for the assembler:
  TABLES TEXT
  
Yes 
YesYes
 Yes
    Explanation:
Selection of TABLES outputs tables linking the source code to the locations in memory.
Selection of TEXT makes no difference at present
Version using the original KAL4 Assembler
Version using a 21st century KAL4 Assembler written with yacc and C.
       
The output shows the program as it would have looked on a real KDF9 Flexowriter, preceded by links to the printer output and other useful files. There are also links to original documentation describing mening of error reports.
There is a listing output by the assembler on a simulated line-printer.
A successful assembly is indicated by the message KAL4 O.K..
The diagnostic output is sent to a file.

A facility offering more options is available at the foot of this page.

To run the program that you have just assembled

If your program reads data on the paper tape reader, type your data in here:

Switches for the emulator: (To learn about these switches read the first few lines of the emulator.)
       
The diagnostics log is normally sent to a file. If you are running a very small program such as “Hello World!”, you can remove the -d switch above, and have all the diagnostic output coming back to your screen. For running a more realistic program, not only do you need to send the diagnostics to a file using the -d switch, but you should reduce the verbosity level. For examples, look at the use of the emulator switches on the assembly sections.

Here are some links that might be useful.

response from the most recent assembly
output from the conversion to Algol Basic Symbols
diagnostic trace of the assembly
KAL4 converted to Eldon2 basic symbol representation
line-printer output from the assembly
listing produced by the KAL4 assembler
output on the UNIX console (quite possibly blank)
printer output before conversion to HTML
diagnostic trace from the KDF9 emulator
output on the KDF9 monitor flexowriter
stream 30 output from the program
directory listing of the emulator environment
Alternatively, you can create a KAL4 file (paper tape format) and upload it here:
File to upload and assemble:       
                  
Sorry this option does not allow you to choose the options, but you can do a rerun using the facility at the foot of this page. The default is probably no optimiser, no text. The actual options used are given at the head of the output.

Rerun the assembly with different options

Here you can re-run a file that was uploaded earlier with different switches.

Options for the compiler:
withwith
out
reference tables
  Explanation:
Reference tables are not produced by the 21st assembler.
Instead it produces a source listing shown alongside the binary program.
Version using original Eldon2 KAL4 assembler
Version using a 21st century Usercode translator written with yacc and C.