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Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

Interesting. Which microcontrollers are you considering? I didn't know about MicroPython but it's kind of blowing my mind; I mean, it feels weird to dynamically allocate anything in a microcontroller.

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MicroPython was originally written for an ARM chip. Since then it's been ported to a number of other systems. What I do know is that it requires a fairly "big" micro. I have a particular interest in PIC chips, but would be happy with any version where I could compile and load the program on a circuit that I'm capable of building myself.

I have tried downloading and compiling large C programs in the past, and it's one of those things where if it works, great, but if the basic "make" comes back with an error for some reason, then I'm kinda lost. My experience with C programming has tended to be with programs numbering no more than a few hundred lines, that all fit in one file and didn't need any kind of "interesting" build process.

Wow, talk about a weird set of customer requirements. ;-)

These micro's have a fair amount of RAM, and the C compilers support memory management, e.g., basics such as malloc() and free(). I suppose somebody could even implement garbage collection.

I think MicroPython would be the best fit for your requirements, both because of the REPL, which really simplifies programming, and because the simplicity of python(i heard of quite a few guys that couldn't manage c , but we're fine with python).

On the other hand, why not the arduino ? there's no build process , plenty of documentation and libraries, and a reasonable chance you'll find some design close to yours.

So far I'm leaning towards the MicroPython. In fact, Python is my language of choice du jour, but I enjoy keeping my eye out for other possibilities.

At the same time, I've been using Arduino, and also have a fair amount of experience programming Microchip's MCU's in C. I'm actually fine with C, but not so good at wrapping my head around large programs that other people have written. This is probably because I've always been a lone wolf programmer.

The reasons why I want an interpreter on a micro is for some strictly hobby projects that require programmability on board. I started planning an absurd DIY pocket calculator, and actually ggot as far as writing my own parser and expression evaluator in C. But a programmable calculator that uses Python or even Lisp would be a fun novelty.

In case you aren't aware of them, eLua [1] or PIC32Lua [2] may fit your needs.

  1. http://www.eluaproject.net/overview/status
  2. https://github.com/FMMT666/PIC32Lua

That looks quite interesting. Thanks! I've actually got some PIC32 chips left over from another project.

Also picobit for scheme goodness: https://github.com/stamourv/picobit

Doesn't support full numeric tower (no floats), but does implement 'unbound precision integers'. See §5.1 of this paper: http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~feeley/papers/StAmourFeeleyIFL0...

If you want a real trip check out leJOS - a JVM for the Hitachi H8 based Lego RCX (and now the much less esoteric ARM-based NXT bricks).

Older still is BrickOS.

Back in 2003, in grade 11, I built a LEGO robot that played the game Connect 4, compiling a mixed C/asm minimax implementation for the RCX via a cygwin toolchain. I can't find pictures of the actual competition, but there's a single pic from a hobby show where it was exhibited:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sparky1701/4821407356/in/album...

Sometimes not knowing what's impossible is a really good thing.

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