Morgan Olsson <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU> wrote:

> In a program example I learned that a simple dot can be used as
> prefix for decimal radix. Like:
>
>     ten  EQU  .10   ;Works OK
>
> Are there such shortforms for other radix? (I'm using MPLAB 3.30,
> and can only find clumsier things like d'157' for decimal 157)

Morgan:

Yes, there are...

    Hexadecimal:

        0xAB
        0ABH (note that the first digit of the hex value must be
              numeric; "ABH" won't work)

    Binary:

        10101010B (note that this only works if the default radix has
                   been set to something other than hexadecimal)

    Octal:

        I could tell you, but octal on an 8-bit processor is an
        abomination before God, so I won't.

Many of us have wished for unambiguous radix specifiers (like a
preceding "%" for binary or "$" for hexadecimal), but Microchip has
decided not to add them.

The bizarre, often-ambiguous trailing-B and trailing-H format is in
MPASM only to provide compatibility with Microchip's earlier
assemblers... Just as the PIC instruction-set mnemonics were
apparently developed by someone who'd never seen a microprocessor
before, that early assembler's radix-specifiers were apparently
chosen in an absolute vacuum.

-Andy

=== Andrew Warren - fastfwd@ix.netcom.com
=== Fast Forward Engineering - Vista, California
=== http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2499