[NTLK] Restarting Newton development?!

[Steven Frank]

> On Aug 3, 2018, at 10:24 AM, Matthias Melcher <m.melcher at robowerk.de> wrote:
> 
> I did already ported newt/0 to 64 bit. It's a bit clunky and uses lookup tables, that fill up eventually, but it's good enoigh to use newt/0 to compile something or even run a short live app.

Oh, nice!  Is that in your GitHub fork at MatthiasWM/NEWT0?

Can you explain more about what were some of the issues and what the lookup tables are for?  Is that specifically to support execution of existing 32-bit compiled NewtonScript?

> Simon Bell's Framework is really fantastic. I probably read through pretty much the whole thing by now, an I believe that he can convert ARM to C++ code on the fly by now, making him the first human decompiler. He did use some Apple specifics in his implementation, some Objective C, and even some assembler, which would need to be brought into common C++, but his code has become a NewtonOS reference Manual for me.

It looks very impressive and I've barely had a chance to dig into it yet.  What's the intended usage model?  For example, if I wanted to use just the NewtonScript compiler, is it best to build the entire framework and link my app against it, or just tease out the classes related to the compiler?

What's the end-goal of the "MessagePad" target in the project?  To be a native runtime for the NewtonScript extracted from the ROM, like we've occasionally discussed with Einstein?  How far along is it, and what can someone like me do to help?  (Someone like me = extensive C/C++/Obj-C/Mac experience, minimal NewtonScript experience, some knowledge of the ROM from disassembly and Einstein tinkering.)

Simon, if you're still lurking, what are your goals with the project, do you want help, and if so what can we do?

> I had not seem Wlater Smith's (TEH Walter Smith) code online until now. That is pretty awesome, too. I wonder if he has the source code to the entire NewtonOS 2.2 somewhere on an old Exabyte Tape ;-)

I wouldn't be sad if such a thing "accidentally" ended up online some day, but I'm not holding my breath.  :)

Steven