Eggplant Farms

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group-logo.png

Site URL

http://members.aol.com/EggplFarms/

Founders

Brock Wilcox

Founding Date

May 12, 1997

Years Active

1997 to 1999

Tagline

IRC Channels

#HAL

Programmed For

PC

Languages

Aliases

Affiliations

Eggplant Farms was a small programming group that just released one program to the TI community — their Higher Assembly Language (HAL) programming language and compiler. HAL was designed to be a replacement for the standard TI-Basic language that is included on the TI graphing calculators, as it is retains much of the same syntax and commands but is faster and compiled like assembly.

Group Significance

(Taken from HAL readme)

HAL is a programming language, based mainly on BASIC, which can be compiled into assembly for the Z80 processor. More specifically the TI calculator series. There is currently a version of HAL aimed at both the TI-85 and the TI-83 platforms, and there will also be a version for the TI-82/86 very soon.

The idea of HAL was thought of in the summer of 1996, but HAL wasn't started until January 1997. The beta release of HAL was May 12, 1997. HAL originally was designed for the TI-85, but its open architecture and low system dependance made it easy to convert to the TI-83, most of the conversion was done in less than 3 days.

The 83 conversion could not have been possible without the lending of a calculator by Brian Fought to me. I thank him. If anyone out there really wants a conversion to the 82/86, I NEED AN 82/86 CALCULATOR TO EXPERIMENT WITH! The sooner the better. The conversion will be made eventually, but if I had one of those calcs now, it would be a lot sooner.

I admit, I really didn't think that the 82 could be cracked. But it has been now. So there is a new version of HAL being planned for the 82. I have already started to expand SuperHAL for this new platform. This is really exciting, I can't wait to get HAL working for FOUR platforms.

Group Contributions

  • List of their programs and games
  • Include a screenshot for some of their best games/programs

Group Staff

  • Brock Wilcox (awwaiid) — founder
  • Adam Fritzler (ihpled)
  • David (aardvarq)
  • Retupmoc7

Group Milestones

  • List of their important milestones (founding, important programs, etc.)

Site URLs

  • http://members.aol.com/EggplFarms/

Site Screenshot

group-screenshot.jpg
(Screenshot of Group homepage circa year)

Group History

(Taken from site homepage)

Welcome to The HAL Homepage, the official HAL website. HAL, Higher Assembly Language, is a compiled language used to convert an intermix of basic and assembly (or just one or the other) into Z80 assembly for the TI-8x calculator series. It is also used as an aid in writing assembly programs for those calculators. HAL was written as an aid to assist advanced programmers but is usually used by those who do not know assembly themselves. HAL comes in 2 parts, the editor and the compiler. The editor, for Windows 3.1 or 95, allows quick and easy coding and one-click compiling in a nice Windows environment. The compiler allows you to get lazy and intermix basic commands and functions with your assembly and have them compiled. This is often used for repetitive, tedious, or complicated procedures, or when people just don't know how to write the procedure for themselves. HAL's main function is to convert HALbasic into Z80 machine code for use with the TI-8x.

The HAL writers have recently announced that they plan on adding 68k support to both HAL and HAL-IC, eventually expanding the support base to six calculators. Don't hold us to that. We are just planning.

Miscellaneous