Amiga programming languages

[orangeBuzzard]

Just out of curiosity, what programming languages are supported by the current Amiga platform?

Correct me if I'm wrong but these are the ones I know of:

General purpose: C, C++
Scripting: Python, ARexx
BASIC (not sure if these are still around): AMOS, BlitzBasic
Web languages: ?????

And a few that I guess are specific to the classic Amigas:
68k Assembly, Modula-2

Also wasn't there a language called E? Is that still around and available for AmigaOS 4?

I guess Xena programming will be through C libraries?

Any others? What about Ada or Java?

[tonyw]

General purpose: C, C++
Scripting: Python, ARexx
BASIC (not sure if these are still around): AMOS, BlitzBasic
Web languages: ?????

Yes, except for AMOS, BlitzBasic - I don't think these still work under OS4+. For those who like to program in interpreted languages, there are a couple of BASIC packages on Aminet and/or OS4Depot, but Python is the language of choice these days.
I don't know of any support for web langauges on the Amiga, but Aminet may have something. You only need an IDE, after all.

Also wasn't there a language called E? Is that still around and available for AmigaOS 4?

Yes, it's written and maintained by ChrisH (a regular on amigaworld.net and amigans.net). It's OS4-native, ie compiled for OS4.

I guess Xena programming will be through C libraries?

Your guess is as good as ours at this stage. We are all eagerly waiting.

Any others? What about Ada or Java?

No, neither has an up-to-date port. The trouble with open-source projects like Ada or Java is that the source tree is so large, and changing continually, that only the simplest of ports (download, configure, install and run) can be maintained by a small number of people.

Some years ago I managed to bring a version of Kaffe up to date for AmigaOS 3.9, but the job took a year or more and it was impossible for me to keep up with their changes. Kaffe is now moribund due to Sun's source code release, but I think my port is still on Aminet.

Ada has a number of open-source ports but no one has ever tried to port it to the Amiga AFAIK. The main problem is that the Amiga does not have a well-known, well-documented GUI interface like X-Windows, so every port from Linux has to be re-written for our GUI.

If you want to get into languages, Simon Archer ("Rigo") has a package called "Codebench" that provides a very useful programming environment, with editors and debugging support. Although it's intended for use with C/C++, I believe you can get some plugins for other languages - to support syntax highlighting, for instance. You can find it at www.codebench.co.uk.

[Thomas Frieden]

And a few that I guess are specific to the classic Amigas:
68k Assembly, Modula-2

You can also program in PowerPC assembly, if you are really brave.

I guess Xena programming will be through C libraries?[(quote]

As far as I know, it's programmed in C, yes.

Any others? What about Ada or Java?

There's Fortran, Ada and Modula-2 backends for gcc, so in theory, these could be ported as well (check adtools on SourceForge).

java is also supported by gcc, but Java itself isn't the big deal (there's a lot of open source implementations, and I think a few like cacao even have PPC JIT). The problem is the class library.

[orangeBuzzard]

Thanks for all the info Tony!

I'll have to have a play around with E when I get my X1000. Nice work with the Kaffe port - that must have been quite a job! Was it the version with the GMP library and does that mean that the GMP library was/has also been ported to Amiga OS (4)? I know the latest GCC uses this library. In fact I was compiling GCC 4.5.2 recently on a Linux box and needed to compile GMP first and ended up in a whole tangle of library dependency issues, as is usually the way. Which actually makes me think of another couple of questions:

Does AmigaOS 4 come with GCC installed or do we have to get it with the SDK? What version is it (or is it closest to)? Is it the default/recommended (C/C++) compiler?

I can't wait to do some development work with the X1000!

...You can also program in PowerPC assembly, if you are really brave.

eek! I'm not sure I am that brave!

...There's Fortran, Ada and Modula-2 backends for gcc, so in theory, these could be ported as well (check adtools on SourceForge).

java is also supported by gcc, but Java itself isn't the big deal (there's a lot of open source implementations, and I think a few like cacao even have PPC JIT). The problem is the class library.

Ada is a great language - it would be good to see it on our favourite platform one day. As to Java - it makes sense about the problem being the class library. It's HUGE and would be a real beast of a problem to port to any other platform and for small teams working in their spare time I guess it would be near impossible. I like Java - it's a nice language conceptually, even if the syntax can be quite "unwieldy" at times, but the API is hugely bloated.

[Olrick]

Thanks for all the info Tony!
Does AmigaOS 4 come with GCC installed or do we have to get it with the SDK? What version is it (or is it closest to)? Is it the default/recommended (C/C++) compiler?

For the time being (OS4.1.2), the compiler comes with the SDK and it's GCC 4.2.4.

[orangeBuzzard]

For the time being (OS4.1.2), the compiler comes with the SDK and it's GCC 4.2.4.

Thanks! According to the GCC releases page that is the latest of the 4.2 series, released May 19, 2008 - so quite up to date and more importantly the most stable of that release series. I'm pleased with that! And to answer my own question from earlier - it seems that the GMP library was introduced to GCC from 4.3.x onwards...

[ChrisH]

Also wasn't there a language called E? Is that still around and available for AmigaOS 4?

Yup!
http://cshandley.co.uk/portable/

(It's not the original E, but rather a close copy of the 68k original.)

[orangeBuzzard]

Yup!
http://cshandley.co.uk/portable/

(It's not the original E, but rather a close copy of the 68k original.)

Great! Thanks for the link. I'll definitely try it out when I have my X1000.

[jaokim]

It's been a while since JAmiga got updated, but I'm trying to work on it now and then. Help is appreciated!:)
http://code.google.com/p/jamiga2/

I have tried to port JamVM, but haven't succeded yet, and since the JAmiga-VM work, I mostly work on the class-libraries. I'm trying to atleast think of not tying it to close to the JAmiga-VM. Now I'm using the GNU Classpath, but I'm also looking at OpenJDK.

[corto]

Just out of curiosity, what programming languages are supported by the current Amiga platform?

Correct me if I'm wrong but these are the ones I know of:

General purpose: C, C++
Scripting: Python, ARexx
BASIC (not sure if these are still around): AMOS, BlitzBasic
Web languages: ?????

And a few that I guess are specific to the classic Amigas:
68k Assembly, Modula-2

BlitzBasic is now AmiBlitz.

About scripting languages, I would like to add I ported a basic version of Ruby a long time ago : it is a great language.

And about asm, PowerPC is great here too.