Using multiple languages is the same project

Most compilers can only handle a single syntax for any project, but the Elements compiler from RemObjects deals with 5 (five!) different languages -even within the same project. That’s pretty awesome and opens up for some considerable savings.

I mean, it’s not always easy to find developers for a single language, but when you can approach your codebase from C#, Java, Go, Swift and Oxygene (object pascal) at the same time (inside the same project even!), you suddenly have some options.  Especially since you can pick exotic targets like WebAssembly. Or what about compiling Java to .net bytecodes? Or using the VCL from C#? It’s pretty awesome stuff!

Check out Marc Hoffmans article on the Elements compiler toolchain and how you can mix and match between languages, picking the best from each — while still compiling to a single binary of llvm optimized code:

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RemObjects Elements + ODroid N2 = true

Since the release of Raspberry PI back in 2012 the IOT and Embedded market has exploded. The price of the PI SBC (single board computer) enabled ordinary people without any engineering background to create their own software and hardware projects; and with that the IOT revolution was born.

Almost immediately after the PI became a success, other vendors wanted a piece of the pie (pun intended), and an avalanche of alternative mini computers started surfacing in vast quantities. Yet very few of these so-called “pi killers” actually stood a chance. The power of the Raspberry PI is not just price, it’s actually the ecosystem around the product. All those shops selling electronic parts that you can use in your IOT projects for example.

The ODroid N2, one of the fastest SBCs in it’s class

The ODroid family of single-board computers stands out as unique in this respect. Where other boards have come and gone, the ODroid family of boards have remained stable, popular and excellent alternatives to the Raspberry PI. Hardkernel, the maker of Odroid boards and its many peripherals, are not looking for a “quick buck” like others have. Instead they have slowly and steadily perfected their hardware,  software, and seeded a great community.

ODroid is very popular at RemObjects, and when we added 64-bit ARM Linux support a couple of weeks back, it was the ODroid N2 board we used for testing. It has been a smooth ride all the way.

ODroid

As I am typing this, a collection of ODroid XU4s is humming away inside a small, desktop cluster I have built. This cluster is made up of 5 x ODroid XU4 boards, with an additional ODroid N2 acting as the head (the board that controls the rest via the network).

My ODroid Cluster in all its glory

Prior to picking ODroid for my own projects, I took the time to test the most popular boards on the market. I think I went through eight or ten models, but none of the other were even close to the quality of ODroid. It’s very easy to confuse aggressive marketing with quality. You can have the coolest hardware in the world, but if it lacks proper drivers and a solid Linux distribution, it’s for all means and purposes a waste of time.

Since IOT is something that i find exciting on a personal level, being able to target 64-bit ARM Linux has topped my wish-list for quite some time. So when our compiler wizard Carlo Kok wanted to implement support for 64-bit ARM-Linux, I was thrilled!

We used the ODroid N2 throughout the testing phase, and the whole process was very smooth. It took Carlo roughly 3 days to add support for 64-bit ARM Linux and it hit our main channel within a week.

I must stress that while ODroid N2 is one of our verified SBCs, the code is not explicitly about ODroid. You can target any 64-bit ARM SBC providing you use a Debian based Linux (Ubuntu, Mint etc). I tested the same code on the NanoPI board and it ran on the first try.

Why is this important?

The whole point of the Elements compiler toolchain, is not just to provide alternative compilers; it’s also to ensure that the languages we support become first class citizens, side by side with other archetypical languages. For example, if all you know is C# or Java, writing kernel drivers has been our of limits. If you are operating with traditional Java or .Net, you have to use a native bridge (like the service host under Windows). Your only other option was to code that particular piece in traditional C.

With Elements you can pick whatever language you know and target everything

With Elements that is no longer the case, because our compilers generates llvm optimized machine-code; code that in terms of speed, access and power stand side by side with C/C++. You can even import C/C++ header files and work directly with the existing infrastructure. There is no middleware, no service host, no bytecodes and no compromise.

Obviously you can compile to bytecodes too if you like (or WebAssembly), but there are caveats to watch out for when using bytecodes on SBCs. The garbage collector can make or break your product, because when it kicks in -it causes CPU spikes. This is where Elements step-up and delivers true native compilation. For all supported targets.

More boards to come

This is just my personal blog, so for the full overview of boards I am testing there will be a proper article on our official RemObjects blog-space. Naturally I can’t test every single board on the market, but I have around 10 different models which covers the common boards used by IOT and embedded projects.

But for now at least, you can check off the ODroid N2 (64-bit) and NanoPI-Fire 2 (32-bit)