[stella] Macros to manage memory allocation.

[Lee Fastenau]

> > For a solution to the problem of avoiding clumsy hard-coded label EQU
> > address statements, I've picked up the habit of using the segment and org
> > pseudo-ops and then using ds statements to define the vars.
> 
> So have I. This morning I was trying to think of an advantage to using the
> macors instead but I haven't thought of one. Can someone enlighten me?

I think most people use ds statements for allocating RAM, but the macros allow you to assign labels for local variables with a bit more context.  It's not perfect, but I think it's a nice start.  Instead of doing something like "myLocalVar equ myGlobalVar" or defining locals up in the global var definition space.

So your code can look like:

; Setup globals

        INIT_ALLOC
        ALLOCATE "globalVarA",1
        ALLOCATE "globalVarB",1
        ALLOCATE "globalSet",10

...

; Some subroutine

someSub subroutine
        NEWLOCAL
        LOCAL "someCounter",1
        LOCAL "somePointer",2
        ENDLOCAL

        ...

; Other subroutine

otherSub subroutine
        NEWLOCAL
        LOCAL "otherSet",5
        LOCAL "otherCounter",1
        ENDLOCAL

        ...

-Lee