Re: [Gm2] Re: Modula-2 news

[Gaius Mulley]

john o goyo <address@hidden> writes:

> Greetings:
> 
> Gaius Mulley wrote:
> > Hi,
> > As there has been little traffic on the mailing list I thought I'd
> > outline a few items of Modula-2 news and areas currently being worked
> > upon. I'm currently deep in the middle of bringing the GM2 front end
> > up to gcc-4.1.0. I'd like to pursue pushing into the GCC mainline tree
> > (although this could be some way off.. read much work :-).
> 
> How would this effect the boot-strapping p2c?

Hi John,

I'm not altogether sure.  Two major options I think: either p2c can be
integrated into the gcc tree (just like the current situation with
gm2) - this is my preferred solution.  Or alternatively, if the GCC
maintainers insist, p2c could be removed and the translated C sources
checked in to the tree and the build process modified so that these C
sources are compiled into a PIM compiler which compile the M2 sources
into the final gm2.  But p2c is held under the GPL and has been
accepted in the savannah registration process so hopefully it can
remain.. but it rather hinges on whether the p2c copyright was
actually assigned to the FSF..

> > Another motivation for bringing GM2 upto gcc-4.1.0 is so that GM2
> > can target the AVR embedded microprocessors - an area where Modula-2
> > should excel imho..
> 
> Your worthy opinion reminds of where I first read about Modula-2.  The
> old Byte magazine had a hardware column called "Ciarcia's Circuit
> Cellar" written by Steve Ciarcia.  One project dealt with building a
> wee computer with a microprocessor -- the 8051, I believe -- and he
> positively gushed about a new language that he just learned about,
> namely Modula-2.  He cross-compiled the code on a CP/M box with Turbo
> Modula-2 and moved it over.  (Well, he may used dual-ported RAM -- I
> cannot really remember.)  He was quite happy with the results.

the AVRs look quite fun.. some of the least expensive have really low
flash and ram (Kbytes) - M2/C should be fine, some of the larger
languages would struggle to fit in such a small space, I think..

I guess it needs someone to translate many of the libc avr library
includes (also on savannah) into Modula-2 definition modules.. but
thats for someone else to do :-), or alternatively fix h2def :-)

regards,
Gaius