You'd hand write most of the code, type it into the assembler and that could then create what was effectively a machine code binary which you'd save to tape.
With small stuff you could run the code and drop back out to the OS. Generally you'd load and run the binary to test it and then back to loading the editor and source code, edit that, reassemble. Repeat ad infinitum.
Much of the ZX81 and Spectrum code I wrote was initially done on pen & paper and developed like that.
When I got my first in-house job in 1984 they were using TRS80s for editing and assembling which also had a custom hardware link to transfer the binary to the Spectrum.
By the time we got onto Atari & Amigas there was much better custom hardware, such as SNASM, which also facilitated remote debugging from a PC.
With small stuff you could run the code and drop back out to the OS. Generally you'd load and run the binary to test it and then back to loading the editor and source code, edit that, reassemble. Repeat ad infinitum.
Much of the ZX81 and Spectrum code I wrote was initially done on pen & paper and developed like that.
When I got my first in-house job in 1984 they were using TRS80s for editing and assembling which also had a custom hardware link to transfer the binary to the Spectrum.
By the time we got onto Atari & Amigas there was much better custom hardware, such as SNASM, which also facilitated remote debugging from a PC.