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GCC C/C++ Compiler Ported to WinCE
An anonymous reader writes "This interview at WindowsForDevices is with a young Russian programmer who earlier this year launched a project to port the open source GCC C/C++ compiler and supporting tools (library, manager, linker, etc.) to Windows CE and the Pocket PC platform. The result, according to Vitaliy Pronkin, the project's founder, is that it is now possible to develop applications directly on a Pocket PC PDA using the standard C/C++ programming language. Specifically, source code written in eVC (MFC isn't supported yet) can be built and then executed directly on the Pocket PC (or other Windows CE device) without conversion or additional runtimes. Find it, fix it, compile it, run it -- right on your Pocket PC!"
Hopefully this will open the door for porting and developing many open source applications on CE. It would be interesting to see an open IDE, maybe an eclipse plug-in or something.
Go hug some trees.
Ok, a Diebold machine runs WinCE. We now have GCC for WinCE.
election council: What's votehack.exe? Issit some new program thingie?
I wonder who's winceing about that one, eh?
"This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane."
Anyone else parse that as something to WinCE at?
/* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */
I think I'll stick with a dev platform.
What about the PalmOS port?
When people cheerlead for the Zaurus, and I made a reply pointing out that all of those things can be done on the Zaurus, the one thing that I couldn't come back that WinCE did as well with was a C compiler. All of the other stuff- SSH, VNC, writing code, etc- can be done on WinCE, and in some cases is actually done better on WinCE than it is on the Zaurus. For instance, writing, compiling and viewing LaTeX docs- it's easy to do on WinCE, with a decent app that integrates it all, but on the Zaurus, you're stuck with a lot of configuring and writing code in vi rather than integrating with the Qtopia environment. Eww.
Someone did a port of GCC to MIPS/WinCE a while back, but since everyone is using ARM processors now a days, that was pretty useless. NOt sure of the usefulness of this project, but certainly someone will get something out of it!
I for one do a fair amount of coding all on the WinCE device, never needing to get a desktop to intervene. No, I don't have a Windows desktop. Smalltalk, Python, Java, Perl/tk and a number of other languages are all available on WinCE- meaning you can do development without a Windows desktop or MS SDK.
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
What Perl/tk is available for WinCE/PocletPC?
I hereby inform you that I have NOT been required to provide any decryption keys.
... that there is a huge market here, for a *smart* PalmOS-based development tool.
... well, s/GUI/user interface/ ... I mean, for text-mode user interface style interaction, a text-based programming language and development environment is appropriate.
... what 'language' (should language even be used?) or development environment would work best?
... making development *on* PalmOS the priority.
...
... I should check into that.
You may not want to write C code (lord, I would default to (void *) for everything!) but I'm sure there are ways to approach PalmOS application-development in a "PalmOS GUI"-like manner...
It seems to me that a good test of a GUI system is how well that GUI system supports continued development of apps for that system
But for a pen/graffiti/limited text entry capabilities/bitmap style interface
For PalmOS, I'd love to see a drag 'n drop-style editor environment (like Delphi...) with a very smart 'scripting language', the basics of which are described in PalmOS-GUI metaphors
I'd pay for that, if it existed, as a developer, especially if it gave me the ability to do graphics fairly easily
Perhaps some of the FLASH-based Flash development environments would work? My Clie can play Flash now
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
I use my sharp zaurus for C and Python development regularly. I plan to cross compile G++ in the near future.
Nearly anything I need in Linux I can just cross compile from my iBook or server. I've got the necessary development tools, a decent (if not perfect) keyboard, a good text editor, and the same console evironment that I'm used to. 64mB of usable (non-ramdisk) ram also helps.
Palms are organizers and WinCE devices are toys. Stick Linux on it and make it a dev platform.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Not sure what you mean- what version? 6.6 is the package I was using, although should be workable with the newest- PerlCE was rolled into the main distr. Anywho, you can get it here.
Worked pretty well for me- I used it on Handheld PC 2000 (WinCE 3.0-based) and on PocketPC 2000 and 2002 (both WinCE 3.0-based too).
PerlCE at Rainer's site.
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
doh!
That was the package I used to use- and I should say that it worked quite well. Worked better on a device with 32 MB or more of RAM- Tk sucks a lot of it. It worked fine on a 16 MB unit, but seemed slower to start up. The download is pretty thin, not too many modules come with it. I simply copied the modules from a desktop installation of the same version. I had a bunch of new whacky Tk widgets and everything. Can't remember which it was, but I ran a little database app in Perl/Tk and it worked swell.
The rest of the world has moved forward tho- there is PerlCE 5.8.0 and Tk for it.
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
Ive not seen it for pocketPC.. would be interested in looking at it...
---- Booth was a patriot ----
In the same sense as this article has used it, meaning, "run GCC on the device," yes, that would be difficult. GCC demands very few features from the host, but they do have to be there.
In the sense that most compiler developers mean it, "running GCC to produce code for the device, even though GCC is actually running on [something else]," that's much more common, and much easier.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
When people cheerlead for the Zaurus, and I made a reply pointing out that all of those things can be done on the Zaurus, the one thing that I couldn't come back that WinCE did as well with was a C compiler.
Yeah, but who cares? The Zaurus's Qtopia environment is almost as limiting as WinCE's environment.
With an X11-based handheld, you can really plug it in, log in remotely, and use it like a real machine. Neither the Zaurus nor WinCE machines come close.