Dynamic languages for embedded devices? [closed]

Question

I need to deploy a dynamic language to a small embedded Linux device, and have difficulty finding the right one: I want to build a small web-application with this language (with a small framework like Sinatra or Camping ) and write some scripts for maintenance.

I would prefer Ruby, as I have some experience in it, but after several days of trying to cross-compile it, I could only build the barebone interpreter, without the libs (miniruby). The problem with it is, that it's just Too Damn Large: more than 1 MB stripped!

What language are you using, and how difficult was it to get it working?

Franckot

See this question for several related options: #1083251 – Rockett

Answer 1

I don't use it personally but lua has a very small footprint.

Elah

a co-worker of mine has had great success with lua. Depending upon your needs it can get pretty small as well. – Citified

I'll second this. Lua is quite easy to get going since it will pretty much compile as ANSI C89 (as either C or C++). Feel free to check out eLua, which also has some patches and modules that make it suitable for microcontroller environments: eluaproject.net (the whole project might not meet your needs, but some of the ideas/patches/code might be useful) – Dannie

Answer 2

I am investigating this myself, and I have found some interesting candidates:

• eLua - An implementation of Lua specifically for embedded devices.
• p14p - Python on a chip.
• Forth - Good old Forth, what more can I say?

Vickivickie

Just a small update: since then I have successfully compiled & used Ruby, with mixed results: it is fully functional, and it made my life easier implementing the webservice, but on the other side it is fairly slow, and somewhat a memory hog. – Ironworks

Answer 3

Dynamic languages are very, very hard to minify. Perhaps tinypy will give you some inspiration for squeezing out more.

Curlicue

Answer 4

I'm using ruby 1.8.7 on a Techbase NPE GPRS modem. It has a 180MHz ARM processor, and has a lot of services already on it (eg Apache, embedded PostgreSQL). Works fairly well, but you need to be aware of a few issues with ruby on it (eg Timeout can cause ruby to SegFault).

Planning to move up to ruby1.9 later in the year...

Perchloride