[Oberon] Current Oberon System

[fireweaver]

On 12/17/2012 12:59 PM, Les May wrote:
> On 17/12/2012 12:31, Chris Burrows wrote:
>> The "time when computing was simpler and memory was measured in
>> kilobytes" is still very much the case for a huge body of software
>> developers - those who live in the world of microcontrollers embedded
>> systems development. Users of our Astrobe system are developing Oberon
>> programs on systems with as little as a total of 8K of RAM for data
>> and 32K of Flash ROM for storing their programs. However, these are
>> the sorts of application areas where Oberon really excels.
> Astrobe is the one bright star in the Oberon firmament (pun not
> intended). It is forward not backward looking allowing users to build on
> their existing skills and is precisely the kind of thing which I think
> is needed to secure Oberon's long term future. Unfortunately it is
> targets only a small family of microprocessors and has not stimulated
> any imitators to target other processors. It can be contrasted with the
> Small Devices C Compiler SDCC.
>
> On 17/12/2012 Oleg N. Cher wrote:
>
> Your statement can be extended to - is now possible to develop for
> non-Oberon systems and the popular mainstream platforms in Oberon? My
> answer is - yes, it is. Here we come up against is not a mystical lack
> of Oberon compilers.
>
> I think the list Oleg provides rather makes my point which was the heavy
> reliance on university projects (ULM and GPCP, POW Oberon could be added
> here) and the need for standalone compilers to be developed for
> different platforms if people are going to be attracted to Oberon. C
> translators are a convoluted way of doing things and at best a
> compromise. If my memory serves me correctly the XDS compiler does not
> have an Oberon specific module for file handling but has to press the
> Modula 2 module into service, another compromise. OPCL is a big step in
> the right direction but still seems to be very much a work in progress.
> I hope it continues to be developed.
>
> Les May
>
>
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> https://lists.inf.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/oberon
>
>
Question from a lurker:  Addressing the lack of compilers for Oberon - 
would it make any sense to write an Oberon front-end
for the GCC compiler?  Considering that GCC can be had for just about 
any hardware / operating system imaginable, it seems to
me that this would be a way to go.  Maybe there's intellectual property 
issues that I don't know about or some other objection,
what's your take?

fireweaver



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