+ To understand the development approach and the current form of the + source code, it might be necessary to see it in the right context. I + am an electrical engineer working mostly on embedded control and + signal processing projects. I seek to optimize the development + process of highly specialized software for embedded systems by small + groups of 1 to 3 people. I got fed up with ad-hoc methods of + metaprogramming and code generation that I see used in this + engineering subculture, and decided to build a clean system on a + solid base that can be understood and used by a single electrical + engineer with an open mind towards modern programming language + technology. I am not a programming language theorist, and if you + want to use Staapl, you don't need to be either. + +
+ The current emphasis is on work towards Purrr, a stand-alone + standard Forth layer for generic microcontroller architectures, and + Purrr18 an interactive tethered cross-compiled Forth dialect + designed for the 8-bit Microchip PIC18 Microcontroller. Future goals + include the design of a linear concatenative language as a successor + or drop-in replacement for + the Packet Forth + interpreter, and the design of a declarative Scheme derived + data-flow language to implement DSP functionality on a + microcontroller or DSP processor. Eventually I want to cover the + whole spectrum of tiny 8-bit microcontrollers to 32-bit machines + that can run unix with an integrated language tree based on Forth + and Scheme dialects, and an interaction system that can handle live + software updates and debugging for distributed embedded + applications. + + hunk ./prj/namespace.ss 39 + forth-debug ;; string -> print compiled code + hunk ./prj/namespace.ss 139 + + +(define (forth-debug str) + (prj-eval + `(begin + (asm-off!) + (forth-compile ,str) + (asm-on!)))) + hunk ./www/catkit/index.html 2 -CATkit, a PCB designed for Sheep and the Purrr18 language. +CATkit, a PCB designed for Sheep. hunk ./www/catkit/index.html 4 +Schematics + PCB layout are available upon request. hunk ./www/index.html 12 - Staapl is a highly integrated embedded application development tool - aimed at electronics engineers on a budget. It explores the space - between the - PLT Scheme programming - language, functional - - concatenative (stack) languages, special purpose description - languages for control and signal processing applications, and low - level - Forth. Staapl is an attempt to create a programmable - interactive compiler for networked deeply embedded applications. For - a more elaborate introduction about Staapl - see here. - The Forth dialect is is documented in two (DRAFT) papers: one - specifically about Purrr and the other about - the test suite with an attitude, the Sheep - sound synthesizer. + Staapl is a collection of abstractions for (meta)programming + microcontrollers from within PLT + Scheme. The core of the system is a programmable code generator + structured around a functional + + concatenative macro language. On top of this it includes a + syntax frontend for + creating + Forth style languages, a backend code generator for the + Microchip PIC18 microcontroller architecture, and interaction tools + for shortening the edit-compile-run cycle. hunk ./www/index.html 24 -
- To understand the development approach and the current form of the - source code, it might be necessary to see it in the right context. I - am an electrical engineer working mostly on embedded control and - signal processing projects. I seek to optimize the development - process of highly specialized software for embedded systems by small - groups of 1 to 3 people. I got fed up with ad-hoc methods of - metaprogramming and code generation that I see used in this - engineering subculture, and decided to build a clean system on a - solid base that can be understood and used by a single electrical - engineer with an open mind towards modern programming language - technology. I am not a programming language theorist, and if you - want to use Staapl, you don't need to be either. + +
- I am finalizing the Staapl system core, which consists of the - following parts. -
If you want to use Staapl for a project, please subscribe to + the mailing + list. + +
I am currently looking for projects that apply Staapl to practical + problems in the embedded DSP/control field. I am willing to add + backends for architectures other than Microchip's PIC18 + architecture. Note that version 0.1 did include a backend for the + PIC12 and PIC16 cores which is not difficult to port, and I've been + looking into porting to dsPIC and ARM7TDMI. For more information + please contact me directly. + + +
For an introduction to Staapl + see here. + The Forth dialect is is documented in two (DRAFT) papers: one + specifically about Forth and the other + about the test suite with an attitude, + the Sheep sound synthesizer. Since this is + a developer-oriented project with a lot of effort put into clean + organization, I suggest you have a look at the source code. For an + introduction to PLT Scheme, have a look at the + exellent documentation. I'm + maintaining a + moderated blog. Send + comments to the mailing list or to me directly. + +
If you want to use Staapl/Purrr18 for a project, I suggest you - contact me so I can give some - assistance, growing the documentation according to specific needs. - -
If you have a problem with GPL, you're probably also in a position - to negotiate a service/licencing deal. I am currently looking for - clients and projects that apply Staapl to practical problems. - - -
The documentation is mostly the source, but there's a - small - introduction - and blog. - -
+The Sheep, an idiosyncratic 1-bit sound synthesizer implemented in the +Staapl's PIC18 Forth dialect. For more information have a look at +the paper. +