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On Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 10:01:23AM +0000, Byron Jeff wrote:
> > I do have some half-baked thoughts to see if I can "compile" a limited
> > subset of Python into either PIC assembler directly or C, sutable for a
> > microprocessor.
> 
> I think such a compiler already exists. Give me a virtual second...
> 
> Here it is: http://pyastra.sourceforge.net
> 
> It's written in Python. Maybe you can use it as a starting point.

Thanks! Looks like they don't support 18f chips yet, but as you say, a
good starting point.

> [some snippage]
> 
> The language I'd like to immerse myself into this summer is Forth. NPCI
> runs on a stack based virtual machine and Forth simplifies parsing to
> nothing by using a couple of stacks and RPN for parsing. Just from noodling
> around in the last year, I think a productive system can be forumlated with
> a really small onchip core.
>
> Personally I'd like to get back to a system where all development occurs
> onchip.

I dunno, admittedly I'm firmly in the camp of throwing all the computer
power I can buy at simple problems, just to make the programming easier.
I always thought the big problem with RPN, and Lisp for that matter, is
it's hard for your eye to visually break up what it's seeing into logic.
Math after all developed with infix notation when the only limitation
was that it had to be written with pen and paper.

That said, there are a lot of nifty forth processors, in VHDL and
everything else under the sun, from single cpu to massively parallel
implementations.

- -- 
peter[:-1]@petertodd.org http://petertodd.org
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