Torque

Torque is a lightweight meta-assembler that provides tools to write programs for any processor architecture.

As a meta-assembler, Torque doesn't hard-code behaviours for specific processor architectures like you might expect from a normal assembler: instead, you implement these behaviours yourself as macros, using the datasheet for the target processor as a guide.

Torque was created as a small, powerful, and flexible alternative to proprietary assemblers, and in particular as an alternative to assemblers for proprietary embedded platforms, which can often be clunky, bloated, poorly documented, and overly restrictive. It has been used to write programs for PIC base-range and mid-range microcontrollers, for Z80 microprocessors, and for the Bedrock and Uxn virtual computers.

See Introduction to Torque  for a gentle introduction to the language and workflow. 

A non-exhaustive list of features that Torque provides:

• integer, list (incl. strings), and block (assembled code) data types
• flexible macro definition syntax
• arity-based macro overloading
• declarative integer-packing syntax for words
• postfix expression syntax for integer transformations
• expression-driven conditional assembly
• deep macro recursion for advanced code generation
• heuristic detection of undecidable programs
• robust error checking and source attribution
• multiple output formats (CMD, Intel HEX, raw bytes)
• automatic inclusion of library files for symbol resolution