Appendix D: Klive Z80 Assembly Quick Reference

Status: Placeholder. This appendix will be filled in as the book stabilises and we identify exactly which Klive-specific syntax features are used most.

Synopsis

A focused reference for the Klive Z80 assembly dialect (.kz80.asm), targeted at a reader who already knows another Z80 assembler (sjasmplus, Pasmo, z88dk). It covers only what differs from “vanilla” Z80 syntax and the directives the book actually uses.

Planned sections:

  • File and project structure. Build root, includes, the .kz80.asm extension, multi-file projects.
  • Lexical conventions. Comment styles, character literals, string escapes, the backtick (`) prefix for local labels.
  • Number literals. Hex ($AB, 0xAB), binary (%1010_1010), decimal, the single-quote thousands-separator style.
  • Symbol definition. equ, =, label vs. symbol scoping.
  • Data directives. .db / .defb, .dw / .defw, .defm, .defn, .ds / .defs, .dz.
  • Origin and section directives. .org, .bank, .entry, .export, .disp, the NEX-aware section primitives Klive adds for ZX Spectrum Next targets.
  • Macros. .macro / .endm, parameter passing, local labels inside macros, .foreach, .repeat.
  • Conditional assembly. .if, .elif, .else, .endif, .ifdef, .ifused.
  • Expression syntax. Operator precedence, supported functions (high, low, attr, len, etc.), forward references.
  • Z80N extensions. Mnemonics added by the Z80N (mul d,e, swapnib, nextreg n,v, push imm16, the bsla/bsra/bsrl/bsrf/brlc family, jp (c), ldws, ldix, lddx, ldirx, lddrx, ldpirx, outinb, add hl,a, add hl,bc, add hl,de, pixeldn, pixelad, setae).
  • Built-in helpers used in the book. attr(...), Ink(...), Paper(...), NewLine(), the _print* family — what’s part of the dialect vs. what comes from the standard project template.
  • Differences from sjasmplus. A short side-by-side table for readers porting code in either direction.
Installing Klive