CompuServe Messages

On instructions with variable execution times, the assembler would do the same thing WE do: list a minimum/maximum time for the individual instruction, and give a tallied minimum/maximum for the code segment in question. As far as machines with (I assume you are referring to) different numbers of wait states in memory, this is a constant WITHIN THE MACHINE IN QUESTION, and can easily be bundled in after the fact. What it comes down to is that there are times where certain loops and chunks of code are very time critical. If you have serial data coming in at 475K Baud, you know EXACTLY how much time you have to grab each byte, massage it, and stuff it in the buffer before the next byte comes along. The loop doing this job has to be worked out for maximum time and, if it exceeds this period, must be recoded. There IS a need for machine cycle counts in many applications. The simple fact that having an assembler (or other utility) which can do this alleviates having to do it by hand. Rick