From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jan 28 16:34:34 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8883016A41A for ; Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:34:34 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from randyhyde@earthlink.net) Received: from elasmtp-masked.atl.sa.earthlink.net (elasmtp-masked.atl.sa.earthlink.net [209.86.89.68]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 43D7B13C457 for ; Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:34:34 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from randyhyde@earthlink.net) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=dk20050327; d=earthlink.net; b=T3nMc/V8afNsB63at8pKt9xo5ONdLvmf2djDguFCylfeMX5dH27GC6L4OrXieLcI; h=Message-ID:Date:From:Reply-To:To:Subject:Mime-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding:X-Mailer:X-ELNK-Trace:X-Originating-IP; Received: from [209.86.224.46] (helo=elwamui-royal.atl.sa.earthlink.net) by elasmtp-masked.atl.sa.earthlink.net with asmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1JJWwL-0003rr-M9 for freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org; Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:34:33 -0500 Received: from 71.9.7.20 by webmail.pas.earthlink.net with HTTP; Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:34:33 -0500 Message-ID: <19768237.1201538073624.JavaMail.root@elwamui-royal.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:34:33 -0500 (EST) From: Randall Hyde To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: EarthLink Zoo Mail 1.0 X-ELNK-Trace: eba5e0c9192a36dcd6dd28457998182d7e972de0d01da9408a5898653e71538ae100235f2e1e6639350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c X-Originating-IP: 209.86.224.46 Subject: Re: HLA v1.100 is now available for FreeBSD X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Randall Hyde List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:34:34 -0000 >>>> This looks like it might be interesting. Two comments: 1) Is there a FreeBSD port available? <<<<< I assume you mean the PORTS distribution format. The answer is no, not yet. Someday I'll take the time to figure out how to do this (and RPMs or comparable things under Linux). In the meantime, all it really takes to install the guy is to unzip/tar it and set a couple of environment variables up. No big deal for most BSD/Linux users. OTOH, I do realize the benefit of having an installation program, so it's on the list of things to do. If there is an easy way to automate this in a make file (which I use to build by releases with), I'd be more than happy to include it when I release the next version; assuming someone is nice enough to show me how to do it. >>>>> 2) Do you have any plans to target anything other than 80x86? HLA looks like it would be very handy as a development tool for embedded micros (PIC, Atmel etc). <<<<< Long ago (pre-x86 Macintoshes) I was considering the PowerPC. That's history today, however. The ARM looks like fun, but.... The big goal I have right now is to get back to work on HLA v2.0 and get that generating code. For example, the port to the (x86) Macintosh has to wait for HLA v2.0 and getting a Mac OS X port operational is my next big task after HLA v2.0. Then, of course, the next most important thing is a port to the x86-64 (actually, HLA v2.0 contains the facilities for this, they just have to be activated). Then I can start looking at other processors. OTOH, the HLA compile-time language (i.e., macro language) is sufficiently powerful that you can actually *write* assemblers for other CPUs with the CTL. It would be slow compiling such programs, but it's certainly possible. And if you *really* want to move ahead with different CPUs today (I emphasize *you*, not *me*), I have posted the existing code for the HLA v2.0 compiler on Webster (http://webster.cs.ucr.edu/AsmTools/HLA/hla2/0_hla2.html). Currently, handling almost all of the declarations is complete (no machine instructions yet). So it's in the perfect state to modify for a different CPU. Cheers, Randy Hyde