The first thing we need to do before we can begin actually learning assembly, is set up our editing environment. This can be as simple as opening notepad, but I'd like to introduce a few alternatives. There exists a list of all of most of the text editors available here. However, there are a few popular choices that tend to be more appropriate for what we wish to do.

Windows:

Crimson Editor:

"Crimson Editor is a freeware text editor, source code editor, and HTML editor for Windows."

• It has line numbers, which is very convienient when one must debug his/her code.
• It also has a project pane which allows the user to combine a few files into a grouped project file which can be automatically loaded each time Crimson Editor is opened.
• Also, it has tabbed files so you can open muliple files at once within a single window.
• Furthermore, it has syntax highlighting built in for the more popular languages, but you can design your own customized syntax highlighting for ASM for instance.
• It maintains current indent so you are not forced to slam the tab key for each new line.
• It also has a bunch of compiling and macro running features built in that we will not utilize.
• Oh, and who can forget the most useful feature of all: its ability to convert tabs to spaces and spaces to tabs.
• It's my favorite IDE for programming z80 ASM.

Crimson Edittor's homepage can be found here. You can download it from here.

Notepad++:

"Notepad++ is a free source code editor (and Notepad replacement), which supports several programming languages, running under the MS Windows environment."

• It has line numbers, which is very convienient when one must debug his/her code.
• Also, it has tabbed files so you can open muliple files at once within a single window.
• Furthermore, it has syntax highlighting built in for the more popular languages, but you can design your own customized syntax highlighting for ASM for instance.
• It maintains current indent so you are not forced to slam the tab key for each new line.
• Instead of a project pane, Notepad++ has the ability to save and load sessions.

In previous versions of Notepad++ and Crimson Editor there were more substantial differences. Crimson Editor has been the more robust IDE while Notepad++ was true to the original notepad in it's sleek and slim features. The two have become so similar that there's nothing substantial that would make me suggest one over the other. In programming forums you either a Crimson Editor or a Notepad++'er; the choice is yours!

Notepad++'s homepage can be found here. You can download it from here.

Latenite:

Latenite is a new player to the z80 IDE series. It's the one of the first major editor to be built specifically for calculator programming. As such, everything you need is integrated within it. It has an assembler (Brass), a sprite edittor (Early Morning), and an emulator (PindurTI) built in, which makes the entire process of developing, testing, and debugging much easier. Also, because it's built for the z80, it provides syntax descriptions and built in error explanations. Also, it's still in developement with an active community backing it; expect even more great features in the future.

<Insert bulleted specific information here about Latenite>

You can find Latenite's homepage here<?>. You can download it here.

Assembly Studio8x:

Assembly Studio 8x is the earliest attempt at a z80 assembly IDE. It supports both the 83 series and the 85 series (both are z80 processors). It has a built in assembler (ZASM?) which makes compiling easier. It has syntax highlighting, and installs a nice icon for ASM programs.

<Insert detailed bulleted information about Assembly Studio 8x here>

Assmebly Studio 8x's homepage can be found here. You can download it here.

Notepad:

Notepad is the classic programming IDE. I'd like to think that we advanced to a point where it's archaic, but we musn't forget that we are programming for a >10 year old processor.

• Notepad is built into every Windows.
• It's small and streamlined.
• It's time tested. You'd be hard pressed to find a program that seen as many years as it has.
• Can't really go wrong with notepad. There are no compilcated project files, syntax highlighting, or even line numbering. There's just text, and alot of it.
• It takes up very little clock cycles and ram. I've never been on a computer that doesn't meet Notepad's minimum requirements.
• You can think all high of yourself for using such a basic program and start your own website bashing others who use new technology.

Notepad comes bundled with Windows and can be found here normally. If that link doesn't work try Start->All Programs->Accessories->Notepad.