Re: OS - gui
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Re: OS - gui
On Thu, 1 Aug 1996, JArtis1 wrote:
> I think as long as someone is interested in creating a GUI operating
> system, SOMEBODY should sit down and write a C compiler, probably through
> ZShell.
It would be kind of hard to fit a c compiler in the available 32k.
And even if you could, c programs are typically several times the
size of assembly programs. And generally the smaller the compiler,
the larger the executable.
Small C as an example, for it's compiler and libraries, needs about
60k or thereabouts. Then you need an assemlber and a linker. At a
minimum you'd need around 90k - 100k just to hold the compiler and
it's tools, and then more memory for it to run in and even more for
it's output.
TI Basic is in rom so it doesn't take up much ram. Also it's
interpreted and interpreted languages take a lot less rom than
compiled languages, which is why basic came with all the early
computers.
However, Forth could be ported to the TI. It would take some
work but it would be possible to have a pretty powerful Forth
interpeter in about 4 or 5k if you didn't need all the bells
and whistles. Forth is also pretty fast. Even though it is
partly interpreted it's also partly compiled. Actually it's
threaded, which is kind of half way between. Forth programs
would be a lot faster than the kind of c programs a tiny c
compiler could produce, and they could be small too.
There are a lot of Z80 forth compilers around with source code.
But it does have one very major drawback in the TI world with
all it's contention with the HP world. The language in the HP
is modelled after Forth. It isn't Forth but it looks a lot like
it.
It also has what some people think is another drawback. It's
weird. But weird in a beatiful sort of way.
Barry
Barry
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