[Haskell-cafe] In-place modification

[Andrew Coppin]

Sebastian Sylvan wrote:
> On 10/07/07, Alex Queiroz <asandroq at gmail.com> wrote:
>>      So you think we use C because we like it? :-) When this
>> revolutionary tool of yours arrive that compiles Haskell to PIC
>> devices, I'm gonna be the first to use it.
>>
>
> No, you use it because you have to, there is very little choice. Which
> is exactly my point.
>
> I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that when nobody uses C for
> desktop applications, games etc. anymore because there's a better
> language available and widely supported, that some version of this
> "next mainstream language" will make it onto embedded devices too.
>
> The revolution (tm) won't come at the same time for all domains. C is
> probably used/supported in embedded devices mostly because it's
> popular for non-embedded devices (not because C is somehow uniquely
> suited for embedded devices). So what happens when something else is
> popular, when most industries have stopped using C and almost nobody
> coming from university knows it very well or at all? Isn't it likely
> that a lot of vendors will write compilers targeting embedded devices
> for this new popular language?

Mmm... a garbage-collected language on a PIC with single-digit RAM 
capacity? That's going to be fun! :-D

OTOH, isn't somebody out there using Haskell to design logic? (As in, 
computer ICs.) I doubt you'll even run "Haskell" on a PIC, but you might 
well use it to *construct* a program that works on a PIC...