Many data sections - bad practise?

thyslo · 11 May 2020, 10:27

From time to time I'm experimenting with some asm coding on the Amiga.

My latest effort is to group code by its functions and move it to separate asm files. I'm exporting these functions with XDEF and reference them from main.asm with XREF.

Now it is quite handy to have separate data sections in some of the .asm files e.g. to create a buffer for reading lines etc.

But are there disadvantages when you have maybe 10 data sections instead of just one in an asm project?

Thomas Richter · 11 May 2020, 10:37

Longer binaries without any benefit.

Antiriad_UK · 11 May 2020, 11:32

If you give them all the same section name (at least with vasm) the linker will merge them together in the same section anyway so won't make the binary any worse. Using XDEF with smaller components is definitely a good thing (tm) as long as you are comfortable with having a batch/makefile to assemble and link everything you need.

thyslo · 11 May 2020, 11:43

So I'll try and see if my ancient O.M.A. assemblers linker is able to merge the data sections, that would be great. Thanks for this hint!

roondar · 11 May 2020, 11:48

IIRC there's also a flag for VASM/VLINK which, when set, will make the linker try to merge all sections of the same type together - regardless of name.

Antiriad_UK · 11 May 2020, 11:53

Indeed.

And remember sometimes more small sections is better than one big section if you are trying to squeeze everything into fragmented ram. On my last intro I put all the shared/big chip mem stuff (things I needed to be contiguous) into one section that fitted into your average WB 1.3/2.x/3.x workbench boot up in most configs I checked, and then put any other chip mem requirements into smaller sections.

phx · 12 May 2020, 01:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by thyslo

So I'll try and see if my ancient O.M.A. assemblers linker is able to merge the data sections

Any linker should automatically merge sections with the same type and name. Otherwise I would regard that as a bug.

Although for AmigaDOS hunks there is an exception: sections without a name or named __NOMERGE are never merged (source: The Amiga Guru Book).

11 May 2020, 10:27	#1
thyslo Registered User Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: Germany Posts: 189	Many data sections - bad practise? From time to time I'm experimenting with some asm coding on the Amiga. My latest effort is to group code by its functions and move it to separate asm files. I'm exporting these functions with XDEF and reference them from main.asm with XREF. Now it is quite handy to have separate data sections in some of the .asm files e.g. to create a buffer for reading lines etc. But are there disadvantages when you have maybe 10 data sections instead of just one in an asm project? Last edited by thyslo; 11 May 2020 at 12:00. Reason: spelling

11 May 2020, 11:53	#6
Antiriad_UK OCS forever! Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Birmingham, UK Posts: 418	Indeed. And remember sometimes more small sections is better than one big section if you are trying to squeeze everything into fragmented ram. On my last intro I put all the shared/big chip mem stuff (things I needed to be contiguous) into one section that fitted into your average WB 1.3/2.x/3.x workbench boot up in most configs I checked, and then put any other chip mem requirements into smaller sections. Last edited by Antiriad_UK; 11 May 2020 at 11:59.

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11 May 2020, 10:37	#2
Thomas Richter Registered User Join Date: Jan 2019 Location: Germany Posts: 3,216	Longer binaries without any benefit.

11 May 2020, 11:32	#3
Antiriad_UK OCS forever! Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Birmingham, UK Posts: 418	If you give them all the same section name (at least with vasm) the linker will merge them together in the same section anyway so won't make the binary any worse. Using XDEF with smaller components is definitely a good thing (tm) as long as you are comfortable with having a batch/makefile to assemble and link everything you need.

11 May 2020, 11:43	#4
thyslo Registered User Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: Germany Posts: 189	So I'll try and see if my ancient O.M.A. assemblers linker is able to merge the data sections, that would be great. Thanks for this hint!

11 May 2020, 11:48	#5
roondar Registered User Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 3,411	IIRC there's also a flag for VASM/VLINK which, when set, will make the linker try to merge all sections of the same type together - regardless of name.

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