Amiga REBOL
07/11/10 11:02
REBOL (Relative Expression Based Object Language) is returning to the Amiga platform and I plan to be a part of it.
There is much already written about REBOL and what it is so I’m not going to repeat any of that here.
What is new is that REBOL is turning 3.0 and with that version change we are now able to collaborate a lot more with REBOL Technologies. Previous incarnations of REBOL kept much of the language close to home and REBOL Technologies was responsible for porting it to every platform along with all the services/components/etc. that go along with it. REBOL 3.0 opens things up a lot more and enables people like myself to participate in development. Only the core of REBOL remains closed source now.
Carl Sassenrath recently ported REBOL 3.0 to AmigaOS 4.1 and provided a working binary for the AmiWest 2010 show in Sacramento, California. The first feature I tried was chat. With chat you can interact with other REBOL users using a text based interface. The very next thing everybody wants to see is some kind of GUI. That is where I am getting involved.
REBOL 3.0 has something called a Host Kit where host-specific code is contained. Since AmigaOS has a unique GUI it requires a unique host kit to enable REBOL to interface with that GUI.
I now have windows opening and closing and reacting to events. Next will be adding more features like text rendering from REBOL and so on. I hope to blog my progress here so stay tuned.