[Coco] Drivewire and ADOS...

Christopher Smith csmith at wolfram.com
Tue Oct 1 16:27:52 EDT 2013


I do most of my code in C, actually.  At other times, C++, Objective C (there's a bit of a theme here I guess), Java, Forth, Scheme, Perl, Python, and -- well, some others. :)  What assembly I've done is often inlined into C code, actually.  Last time because I wanted to take command-line arguments and convert them into an arbitrary function call to an arbitrary dynamically loaded library.  C doesn't have a built-in facility for doing that but it's easy to arbitrarily construct a standard call on the stack with a few assembly operations. ... but as for Java, I have done a few personal projects with it and worked on probably two projects for a small commercial software house that used it.

No, it's not really a language for the CoCo, though there are possibilities.  Google tells me the CLDC requires only about 160k of memory at a minimum.  There are some assumptions built in about the code-size of the interpreter, so you could perhaps get by with less.  It also "requires" a 16 bit processor, but I suspect what they really mean is that you must be able to perform 16 bit numeric operations.  It seems feasible to cram a CLDC/MIDP1.0 (I say 1.0 because they didn't add floating point math until 2.0, though if it did support 2.0 you could run Angry Birds) system in 512k of RAM on an upgraded CoCo 3, emulating the 16-bit numerics and using drivewire for its required network connection.  Of course this would be a huge project of limited usefulness, and probably isn't the right way to get anything on the CoCo, but it would be hilarious if it could run Java code. :)

Chris

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gene Heskett" <gheskett at wdtv.com>
> To: coco at maltedmedia.com
> Sent: Tuesday, October 1, 2013 3:05:46 PM
> Subject: Re: [Coco] Drivewire and ADOS...
> 
> On Tuesday 01 October 2013 15:55:52 Christopher Smith did opine:
> 
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > 
> > > From: "Gene Heskett" <gheskett at wdtv.com>
> > > To: coco at maltedmedia.com
> > > Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013 6:52:28 PM
> > > Subject: Re: [Coco] Drivewire and ADOS...
> > > 
> > > On Monday 30 September 2013 19:35:48 Bill Pierce did opine:
> > > > (button pushed) Now I will say something.
> > > > First, I thought Aaron said DriveWire4 was Open Source? So why
> > > > is
> > > > HE
> > > > responsible for anything? Although he is the only person (that
> > > > I
> > > > know
> > > > of) working on the code, he said it was open for anyone to work
> > > > on
> > > > it.
> > > > He asked for people to help... then didn't want this, didn't
> > > > want
> > > > that.
> > > 
> > > That has NOT been my experience.  But I should also point out
> > > that on
> > > THIS
> > > list, Aaron is probably the only one who has more than 1 clue
> > > about
> > > writing
> > > in java.
> > 
> > If you count having done so professionally, I'd say I have a few
> > clues
> > about it. :)
> > 
> > Chris
> 
> Then please be welcomed to a pretty small list as we count 'em here.
> :)
> 
> I do assembly, some Basic09 & some C, but java wasn't something I
> figured
> I'd ever need on the coco.  My fault no doubt, but at the time, I was
> still
> running a mid market TV stations engineering dept. singlehandedly
> which
> occupied a considerable amount of time since nothing broken went out
> for
> repairs, not even camera lenses.
> 
> Nowadays, short term memory gets in the way.  Most of the stuff I
> cobble up
> to do the AH&E work on linux is now written as bash scripts.
> 
> Cheers, Gene
> --
> "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
>  soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
> -Ed Howdershelt (Author)
> 
> Onward through the fog.
> A pen in the hand of this president is far more
> dangerous than 200 million guns in the hands of
>          law-abiding citizens.
> 
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
> 

-- 
Christopher Smith
Systems Engineer, Wolfram Research



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