{"id":11479,"date":"2024-04-22T15:48:37","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T14:48:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mathscitech.org\/articles\/?p=11479"},"modified":"2024-05-02T10:54:55","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T09:54:55","slug":"tiny-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathscitech.org\/articles\/tiny-language","title":{"rendered":"A tiny high-level language runtime for embedded computing with the power of C and the extensibility of Forth or LISP."},"content":{"rendered":"


\nWe are delighted to announce the successful completion of a tiny footprint high-level computing language for high-speed, low-power, embedded computing on bare silicon (no BIOS, no OS). In terms of size, cost, and carbon footprint, the kernel clocks in at 730 bytes<\/strong> which includes a fully extensible runtime kernel providing DSL (domain specific language) capability for application specific computing.
\n<\/p>\n

What has been achieved:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. 372 byte<\/strong> machine coded kernel (bytes, not KB). This is small enough to fit into the smallest ROMs, while still leaving plenty of space for application RAM.1<\/a><\/sup>\n
  2. A further 358 bytes comprise bootstrapped runtime instructions written in the language itself, and data organized in jump-tables for efficient threaded execution.\n
  3. 40 kernel level instructions provide the granular control of C for application code (bit-level, structured conditionals).\n
  4. Compressed application code runs through a threaded design providing high speed code execution (as fast or faster than C) using native code.\n
  5. The core kernel provides a codestream reader that provides Domain specific language (DSL) capability<\/a> to allow first class language expansion with the full capability of a Forth or a Lisp. This means expanded instructions have the same first-class attributes as the core kernel instructions.\n
  6. Language is based on a simple stack-based virtual machine universal architecture onto which any chip can be mapped.\n
  7. Portability between chips is achieved through a light-weight mapping layer to kernel instructions without requiring any other layer. Mapping kernel instructions between chips and adapting the kernel code is all that is required to port to a new chip.\n
  8. Any machine specific capabilities in a new chip can easily wrapped as a language extension, providing first class native code for high speed integration of full chip capabilities.\n
  9. Lightweight development stack (open source) with compiler\/assembler\/debugger for cross-compilation.\n
  10. Proof of concept designs with Arduino (Atmel 328), ATTiny85, and x86 chips.\n
  11. User\/Programmer interface is via live serial link, via keyboard\/screen, or via binary ROM\/RAM load.\n<\/ol>\n

    More details to follow.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Recommended Reading:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The sacred and the profane: low-level software engineering and the search for simplicity in the hardware-software combination<\/a>\n
    2. TinyPhoto: Embedded Graphics and Low-Fat Computing<\/a> – using the Atmel ATtiny85 and an early version of the tiny toolchain above.\n
    3. Knowledge Engineering & Emerging Technologies (2005-2015)<\/a>*\n
    4. Sensors and Systems: Integrating Sensors into the Ubiquitous Computing Stack<\/a>\n
    5. Programming in a ‘Problem-Oriented (Domain Specific) Language’: Forth, Lisp, and Ruby<\/a>.\n
    6. Demystifying the Assembly Language Toolchain: DOS-DEBUG, NASM (Netwide Assembler), TCC (Tiny C Compiler), and Forth<\/a>\n
    7. Microcontrollers, Sensors, and Embedded Systems: Low-Cost Experimenting with Arduino<\/a>\n
    8. Programming Low-Power, Low-Cost Microcontrollers – Atmel, Arduino, ATtiny – A Homebrew Toolchain including a 3-instruction Forth<\/a>\n
    9. Voice Controlled Hardware and the Human-Sensor Interface<\/a>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n

      Footnotes:<\/h2>\n
      \n
      <\/div>\n
        \n
      1. To put the small size into context, a block of code used to be 4096 bytes (4K), or about 6 pages of binary when viewed on an 80×40 screen in standard 16 bytes per row format. This about 20% of the size of a block, and is viewable in binary in just over 1 page (45 lines). ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        We are delighted to announce the successful completion of a tiny footprint high-level computing language for high-speed, low-power, embedded computing on bare silicon (no BIOS, no OS). In terms of size, cost, and carbon footprint, the kernel clocks in at 730 bytes which includes a fully extensible runtime kernel providing DSL (domain specific language) [Read More…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192,193,132,120,12],"tags":[223,222,221,220,42],"coauthors":[112],"class_list":["post-11479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-building-technology","category-computing","category-electronics","category-software-engineering","category-technology","tag-assembler","tag-compiler","tag-low-power","tag-release","tag-ubiquitous-computing","odd"],"views":1651,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathscitech.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathscitech.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathscitech.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathscitech.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathscitech.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11479"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/mathscitech.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11547,"href":"https:\/\/mathscitech.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11479\/revisions\/11547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathscitech.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathscitech.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathscitech.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11479"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathscitech.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}