Assembly 6502: Binary Digits

#assembly #nes #binary #programming

What is a binary digit in assembly 6502

A binary digit is a string of binary and binary code(if needed)

Some examples of why to use a binary digit in assembly 6502

Some common reasons to use a binary digit in assembly 6502 include:

Enabling PPU
Minimizing code size

Why not use unary?

Unary(base-1) despite being more low-level than even Binary(base-2) Has alot of cons than pros if they added it to assembly 6502

Cons of using unary

Cons:

Takes up alot of memory and storage and space
typing 256 in unary means typing 256 tally marks(1 or |)
Was not meant for computers to read
Very easy to learn but so much time wasted typing

Pros of using unary

Pros:

Easy to learn
Numbers 1 through 4 requires less typing than a hexadecimal digit

How to use the registers to use a binary digit

To make a variable in assembly 6502 that holds a binary digit, you have to create and store it into the register you want(A, X, Y) and put the binary in the variables value/content

To tell assembly its a binary digit in the contents you need to prefix it with what single numbered variable starts with after the register type declaration if you arent using $ to load a value. # and then % after the # to tell the NES its a binary value

Example of using a binary digit variable

An example of using a binary digit variable is:


.export _main

_main:

LDA #%01101 ; binary content
STA $01

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