B# language for embedded development. And as a D competitor

[kris]

Brad Roberts wrote:
> On Thu, 23 Mar 2006, kris wrote:
> 
> 
>>Bee Sharp wrote:
>>
>>>Excelent article about a new language targeted to embedded development.
>>>
>>>http://www.embedded.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=183700818
>>>
>>>"The B# language includes efficient boxing/ unboxing conversions, field
>>>properties, device addressing registers, interrupt handlers, deterministic
>>>memory defragmenter, and multi-threading capabilities."
>>
>>That is interesting. The ioreg and interrupt handling is nicely done. D could
>>certainly learn a thing or two from the get|set accessor design ~ very clean.
>>
>>That said, B# is not really targeted at the devices claimed ~ you really need
>>more than a couple KB of RAM for a class-oriented system. Thus it's more
>>likely to be targeting devices with a MB or more of memory; such as phones and
>>PDAs, etc. This is a huge market where I keep harping on about D having a
>>great opportunity to shine, and establish a solid foothold. Just think about
>>how many phones there are in the world compared to PC's; and take a look at
>>growth statisitics for India and China (of cell providers). Hardly surprising
>>B# is targeted right there.
>>
>>Anyway; if D had an equivalent mechanism for handling ioreg & interrupts, and
>>GDC were hooked up to the GCC ARM and H8S backends, B# would not have much
>>very offer in comparison (although the B# get|set design is far more elegant
>>IMO). I suppose one could use alias and/or templates to provide an equivalent
>>for ioreg? The embedded assembler would be seriously useful (assuming it
>>supported the target device)
>>
>>Thoughts?
>>
>>- Kris
> 
> 
> There's nothing stopping anyone from fleshing out the gdc support for arm 
> or any other processor.  It's a matter of someone taking the initiative.  
> The best path to success would be for someone with the desire to use that 
> system to step up and help get it working.  I'm sure whoever that person 
> is would get sufficient support to make it work.
> 
> Wanna volunteer?  I don't have the hardware or usecase to do it myself.


I wish! :-)

This needs someone with (a) some time (b) some expertise with GCC and 
linux. The first one is like gold for me, which explains the second to 
some degree. However, I'd hope that there's someone here who has both. 
David Freidman doesn't think it would be a big deal to get it done, and 
the backend for PocketPC/ARM has been built before (for GCC 3.3, I recall).

BTW: What do you think about the B# get|set design?