PilMCU is an implementation of 64-bit PicoLisp directly in hardware. A truly minimalistic system. PicoLisp is both the machine language and the operating system: * Memory management is trivial, just the Lisp heap and the stack * The built-in database is extended to hold a "file system" * One SSD per database file for mass storage * "Processes" run as tasks and coroutines * Events (timing and interrupts) via a 'wait' instruction * Complex I/O protocols are delegated to peripheral chips
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Anonymous2014-09-19 20:03
neat.
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Anonymous2014-09-20 3:21
Wow. If they can make it into a single board computer like the Raspberry Pi and if they can make it as affordable as the RPi, I'd love to buy a few of them. I'd even translate a few hardware drivers from C/Linux into this Lisp system.
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Anonymous2014-09-20 11:07
>>3 I don't see this being under $100. We're talking FPGAs or custom fab here, this ain't no off-the-shelf design
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Anonymous2014-09-20 12:59
>>4 The prototype should be done with FPGA simply to prove the design does what they wanted it to do. From the looks of it, this thing is so simple that it's actually sensible to chain together multiples of these chips and dedicate each core to a special purpose despite being exactly the same thing. If it really is that simple, then it shouldn't be hard to hire a Chinese chip fabricator. Before it reaches this point, I suppose some market research is in order to find if there is any demand within the niche field of exploratory/educational programming.
We imagine something in the line of an "Embedded Lisp Machine" or a "Lisp Machine Kit". Perhaps for home brewing, educational institutions and/or robotics research?
I want this chip for these purposes! I've always wanted a hardware Lisp machine.
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Anonymous2014-09-20 18:59
That's cool and all...but have you ever tried using pico lisp?
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Anonymous2014-09-21 13:04
>>6 I've not tried Pico Lisp specifically. I assume that it is Lisp and the Lisp syntax and semantics are very simple to learn.
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Anonymous2014-09-21 14:13
Haven't looked at the code, but does this have a web terminal-like inferface? Running it headless would certainly keep the system cost down. And is that cooked into the hardware or is it a firmware layer?
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Anonymous2014-09-21 15:43
What are the practical applications? I'm sure Raspberry can handle a Scheme interpreter.
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Anonymous2014-09-21 19:21
>>7 For one thing, all variables are dynamically scoped. And they are maintained in a linked list. Every time you refer to a variable, a linear search down the linked list resolves the variable. This all happens at run time. If I also remember right you can't refer to an output stream with a variable. There's an invisible current output stream variable that you can redirect dynamically or something. It's been a long time since I've looked at it.
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Anonymous2014-09-22 8:02
Lisp machines considered old and busted. This is no more than a novelty, a toy for grown men to play with while productive programmers laugh at them.
>>14 One may do the same with a javashit implementation
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Anonymous2014-09-23 0:26
>>13 I don't know. It's dynamic scope, all the way down. Variable access has to act like linear search down a list for the first matching symbol key. You could translate all symbols into integers and maintain an array of stacks. And push and pop each symbol's stack as variables are declared and go out of scope. But it's complicated. Dynamic scope isn't easy to implement well and in pico lisp you're always using it.
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Anonymous2014-09-23 5:11
The built in database in pico lisp is kind of cool. At least as a concept. Values can go in a out of it. But the database is built out of cons cells. It's all linked lists and trees.