SOM on 8-bits Z80 + 64kb RAM?

[yves gerey]

Bonjour, noob here, but enthousiast programmer and [Z80 connaisseur](http://orgams.wikidot.com/)!

I'd like to port a lightweight language to a Z80-based computer older than you (the Amstrad CPC 6128), and to CP/M as well if there is interest.
* Sub-goal: porting a vm/interpreter.
* Main goal: having the whole toolchain on the native machine (no cross-generation).
More context [here](https://www.pouet.net/topic.php?which=12155&page=1#c571455).

SOM seems to fit pretty well!

My first questions are:
- What is the most advanced related work you know?
- Is anyone interested to work on that with me? (I'm an outgoing introvert, according to my dog).

Cheers!

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λves 

[Stefan Marr]

Dear Yves:

You might be interested in the NXTalk project, which targeted the Lego NXT.
It’s not exactly what I think you might be interested in, in the sense that development is actually done on another machine using a Squeak image:

https://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/hirschfeld/projects/nxtalk/index.html

I don’t know how much RAM a Z80 would have had, but the NXTalk was designed for 64 kB RAM and 256 kB Flash.

SOM itself would need to be changed in similar ways as NXTalk to be useful on such small machines.

If you have any questions, I am happy to give some guidance around SOM.

Best regards
Stefan

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Stefan Marr
School of Computing, University of Kent
https://stefan-marr.de/research/

[yves gerey]

Wow Stefan thanks for the quick reply, much appreciated.

I've seen this page, but the site http://www.mindstorms.com/ is down, so I did not persevere!
I could use 128kB Ram and 64kB ROM.

I plan to compile CSOM as a proof of concept!

Warm regards,
Yves

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λves 

[Stefan Marr]

Hi Yves:

> On 10 Dec 2021, at 21:56, yves gerey <gge...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I've seen this page, but the site http://www.mindstorms.com/ is down, so I did not persevere!
> I could use 128kB Ram and 64kB ROM.
>
> I plan to compile CSOM as a proof of concept!

That’s a good start, but CSOM is designed for 32bit, and also works with 64bit.
On my system, the binary itself is bigger than the space you have available.
Though, that’s not going to work.

The NXTalk source code is linked from the previously mentioned page:
https://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/hirschfeld/projects/nxtalk/media/NXTalk.tar.bz2

The bytecode and various other details are details of NXTalk are adapted to the reduced memory size.
Some more details here: https://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/hirschfeld/publications/media/BeckHauptHirschfeld_2009_NXTalkDynamicObjectOrientedProgrammingInAConstrainedEnvironment_AcmDL.pdf

I think that’s not linked from the page.

Best regards
Stefan