Whats the best way to allocate bitplane memory?

[mydma]

To allocate memory for a bitmap I always used to do the following

section code,code_c
    lea bitplane,a0
    etc
    etc
    rts

section plane,data_c
bitplane: 
    ds.b (320*256)/8

Which seems to work ok. But the problem with that method is increased file size and loading times when testing.

So I have switched to using the allocmem library which solves this.

But now Im wondering is there a "section" I can put in assembler that would allocate the memory when the program loads automatically? This would be ideal as it saves me handling of memory allocation.

[ross]

This:

section code,code_c
    lea bitplane,a0
    etc
    etc
    rts

section plane,bss_c
bitplane: 
    ds.b (320*256)/8

[mydma]

Great, thanks

[roondar]

Yup, ross gave a good answer there.

The alternative (assuming this is something you'd start from the CLI/Workbench) would be to dynamically allocate space using the Exec function AllocMem (and free it afterwards using FreeMem).

Generally, I find the section method is easier to use and the Exec allocation method is more flexible. But your mileage might vary here - both work just fine.

[ross]

Actually for this specific case there is another alternative:

section code,code_c
    lea bitplane(pc),a0
    ...
    rts

bitplane: 
    dx.b (320*256)/8
    end

But here you can open a Pandora's box.