----- Original Message -----
From: "Dr. Faustus" <dr_faustus_at_pcisys.net>
>
> Has anybody developed a newton emulator? It'd be handy to check out apps
> on. Or even to troubleshoot on.
>
> Andy L.
The closest thing to a Newton emulator is Gnuton
(http://gnuton.sourceforge.net/). It's written in Python by David Arnold
(Univ. of Sidney, Australia if I remember correctly) and it's an impressive
bit of work that is surprisingly close to being able to read and execute a
simple package. I've been learning Python (a deceptively simple OO
language -- see www.python.org for more info) in my spare time in order to
work on the project but haven't accomplished much more than adding a few UI
elements.
I suppose that Python is a good choice for a prototype because it's somewhat
high level, cross-platform and Python makes it very easy to implment the
Newton package loading since one can extend the software at runtime just by
reading in a file (package) and executing it. However, it's a two-edged
sword since I can't seem to get past the weak type checking of the language
and have difficulty getting a clear picture of the roles of the various
components -- I suppose that nearly twenty years of Assembly/C/C++ have
impressed their constraints upon me.
Anyway, please have a look at Gnuton. It's the closest thing there is to a
Newton emulator, thus far, and a very worthwhile project if you (or anyone
else on the list, for that matter) has the skill and inclination to help
out, even a little.
-- JonTurner
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