[Slackers] Slang on other computers

[Anders Carlsson]

On Thu, 29 Jun 2006, Steve Judd wrote:

> What I'm wondering is if anyone here would be interested in writing
> some VIC-20 (or other computer) userdef extensions?

Gah. I've been considering to try out Slang for more than a year now, but
I still haven't got to it. I speak fairly good C64-nese and VIC20-nese,
so I could make my way without translating the language.

I haven't even looked into which kind of cool keywords you have in the
C64 Slangdef (hires graphics? sprites? sound commands? raster timing?).

I suppose as long as the syntax is fairly generic, it would be a good
idea to translate the generated code for the target rather than inventing
new syntax for each port. Although only a small part of Slang is supposed
to be portable, it doesn't hurt if a lot of it is.

I think Slang might be even more useful on a 6502 computer with little
memory, compared to a C program or even compiled Basic that tends to
bloat a lot; Austro Compiler on the VIC-20 requires 8K expansion even
for a Hello World program!

Since the VIC and 64 are so similar, it might be a good first platform
to adopt. How about 128 mode, or the TED series? In the long run, more
different 6502 platforms like the Ataris, Apples, Orics and so on could
be embraced. I know some people on the Oric scene always look for new,
interesting projects as long as one can convince them how great it is.

-- 
Anders Carlsson