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I am currently building a 16 bit word based computer, as 8 bit bytes are EVIL work of the dark side :).
I in reality I am building a simple machine, since it is simple may work for more than 30 seconds.
Thinking of software for it,
“Is it still possible to bootstrap portable pascal to 16/.32 bit word based computer?” At what point is it impossible to port Wirth’s languages do to the need for modern hardware and >64K word memory space and file system?
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David 2
Certainly Pascal exist(ed) on a 16-bit word addressed machine - the Prime series of minicomputers gained a Pascal compiler in the early 80s at rev 17 of Primos IIRC.
Just in case it’s of interest, there’s a book that details the implementation of the Pascal P4 compiler that generates P-code and the P-code interpreter itself:
Pemberton and Daniels: Pascal Implementation: The P4 Compiler and Interpreter. ISBN 0-85312-358-6
It is accompanied by
Pemberton and Daniels: Pascal Implementation: Compiler and Assembler/Interpreter. ISBN 0-85312-358-X
which contains the Pascal source code for the tools needed to bootstrap but alas not the P-code.
Steven Pemberton’s site Pascal Implementation contains more information on the bootstrapping process including the p-code of the tools and a C implementation of the compiler. So with the C compiler it should be possible to generate the p-code for the tools and then you just need to implement the p-code interpreter on your machine.
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drogon 3
c1980; Ugh! Primes! I used them at uni, but never really liked them. Yes, Pascal, Fortran, COBOL, and PMA (Prime Macro Assembler) were all taught on it.
And there was also a 16-bit Pascal also on the PDP-11 we had - that was (I think) Vrije Pascal - Maybe this…
And from that (possibly?) There is a Amsterdam Compiler Kit. I’ve often looked back at Pascal and wondered if it might be possible to target a compiler to the bytecode VM I currently run. Maybe one day…
… although looking at the P4 compiler again… “Simply re-write the interpreter and off you go” … Famous last words…
-Gordon
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I learned Pascal on the time-shared CDC Cyber at the university back in '84. Fortran and IBM 360 assembly language were other classes I took on the same system (someone had written a full 360 assembler and simulator as a thesis project I assume). Cyber assembly language was not offered, at least not as an undergraduate course. I learned C on one of the two VAXen that also resided there at the time. Good times!
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