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Ti-83 and Ti-84 Assembly Programming

Getting Started
     1.1: About This Tutorial
     1.2: About TI-ASM
     1.3: Writing Your First Program
     1.4: Compiling
     1.5: Debugging
ASM Basics
     2.1: Calls and Jumps
     2.2: Registers
     2.3: Displaying Text
System Controls and Calls
     3.1: Data
     3.2: Register Stack
     3.3: If Statements (Comparing)
     3.4: GetKey and GetCSC
     3.5: System Flags
     3.6: Menus
     3.7: Displaying Pictures
     3.8: For Loops (djnz)
     3.9: White Loops
     3.10: OP Registers
Applications
     4.1: Apps vs ASM
     4.5: KeyHooks

Debugging

Once you compile any ASM program, DO NOT immediatley put it on your calculator! Be sure to use the debugger first. Because ASM gives you so much control, any glitch in the code that is not caught by the compiler will force the calculator to crash and reset. Sometimes you have to pull out all the batteries (including the small one) and leave them out for 6 hours to un-freeze the calculator. So, Texas Instruments has created a simulator for the computer.

It's best to download this from TI's Web Site, but it is also avaliable in the ASMTools download earlier in this tutorial.

So, it's best to read the section in AppGuru or the documentation included with the debugger to learn best how to use it, but we'll also go over basics here.

Open up the debugger. Next, go to "File->New". Chose a Ti-83+ or a Ti-83+ Silver Edition from the list of calculators (Silver Edition recommended, works a little better and the setup looks a little nicer). It will create the emulator, etc.

Next, load your assembly program into the debugger. You do this by Link->Load RAM File. Select your compiled file. Now, once the file is loaded, press the "Play" button on the button bar. This will start your emulator.

To run your assembly program, go to the catalog, and select the Asm( function. Next, select your program name. Now press enter (you don't need to close the parentheses), and the assembly program will run. You can now debug your program through this debugger, and we'll go into the details about it later. If the program causes the debugger to stop working, press stop to stop the emulator. Something is wrong with your code. This is where meticulous debugging comes in. This is a skill that we cannot easily teach you, it only comes from programming experience and knowledge of the commands.

The text in this tutorial is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.