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Pasta/80 is a simple Pascal cross compiler targeting the Z80 microprocessor

(github.com)
118 points mariuz | 1 comments | 21 Oct 25 07:23 UTC | HN request time: 0.347s | source
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mati365 ◴[21 Oct 25 13:40 UTC] No.45655689[source]▶
Writing compilers for old CPUs has some real magic in it. It helps you see how processors really work and brings back the old days when hardware was simple and easy to understand. I miss that time. I once wrote a small C compiler in TypeScript for the Intel 8086 and 8087 ([1]), and I have huge respect for the people who coded for those chips. It’s super hard but also very rewarding.

[1] https://github.com/Mati365/ts-c-compiler

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1. zahlman ◴[21 Oct 25 15:08 UTC] No.45656775[source]▶
> It helps you see how processors really work and brings back the old days when hardware was simple and easy to understand. I miss that time.

Just FWIW, you can still find Z80s listed for sale all over the usual e-merchants and people absolutely still design around them. It wasn't discontinued until last June, and there's an updated eZ80 design still made and sold by Zilog.