On Programming: SPITBOL Project Plan

The goals of the spitbol project are to produce the following, in the order listed:

1. A port of SPITBOL to amd 64-bit, using 16 bit characters to allow the support for Unicode.

2. A Python module that will provide run-time access to SPITBOL. For example, to allow the invocation in procedural form to allow the compilation and/or execution of a SPITBOL program, including the use of SPITBOL’s “save” feature.

3. A port to LLVM. This will essentially solve the SPITBOL porting problem, as it should then be even easier to port SPITBOL to an architecture supported by LLVM, and there are already lots of them.

4. A port, tentatively named “teebol,” to allow the use of SPITBOL in cell phones such as the iPhone and Android. By providing access to SPITBOL’s power, this will enable the creation of a whole new class of applications for these devices, as well as other embedded devices.

These projects will not be difficult, and we invite any interested party to join us in this work.

All work will be carried out at Google Code as part of the spitbol project.

No language provides more fun and amusement when programming in it than SPITBOL, and we will attempt to provide lots of fun to those who help us as we work together.