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Utility description

abcde is a script extraction/insertion utility that aims to take as many of the things that are good about Atlas and Cartographer as possible and make them even better.

Features:

• Implements all features supported by Cartographer.


• Implements all features supported by Atlas except for running Atlas extensions.


• Corrects many features that were broken to varying degrees in Cartographer and Atlas.


• Uses expanded table file syntax that allow you to:
  
  
  • Work with non-octet text encodings (e.g. 6-bit tokens, Huffman encodings, etc.).
  
  
  • Handle mid-string encoding changes (a.k.a. table switching within a single string) with a great deal of flexibility.
  
  


• Adds new extraction commands that allow you to:
  
  
  • Dump multiple strings from a single pointer.
  
  
  • Re-align the ROM read position when an end token is encountered.
  
  
  • Dump strings with internal gaps.
  
  
  • Sort output by string address instead of pointer address (making it easier to find gaps between strings that might indicate unused content).
  
  
  • Output only one copy of strings that are the target of multiple pointers.
  
  
  • Output more Atlas commands automatically; in many cases it is possible to use the extraction output as a complete Atlas input file without needing to modify it further.
  
  


• Adds new insertion commands that allow you to:
  
  
  • Execute arbitrary insertion commands when the insertion point reaches a specified ROM address.
  
  
  • Count things and write the counter value to ROM like a pointer.
  
  
  • Handle Pascal strings that specify their length in number of tokens rather than number of bytes.
  
  
  • Write pointers (embedded or normal) whose value is the distance between the pointer and the text rather than the text's address.
  
  
  • Change the current insert position by a relative amount rather than specifying an absolute ROM address.
  
  
  • Dynamically calculate arbitrary arithmetic values and write the values to ROM.
  
  


• Open source code that you can modify or extend to suit your own needs or preferences.