Matthias Felleisen <matthias@ccs.neu.edu> wrote:
> 
> 
> On Jan 20, 2009, at 4:48 PM, danprager@optusnet.com.au wrote:
> 
> > If someone can do a Scheme -> ActionScript 2 or AVM2 compiler that  
> > could be impactful in the RIA-space.  (AS2 is the language of  
> > Flex / Flash and is very similar to JavaScript.)
> 
> You might want to tackle this problem, perhaps with others, starting  
> from the planet package for JS. -- Matthias

Shriram wrote:
> Dave Van Horn has a prototype, working (but perhaps unsupported)
> compiler to JavaScript.
>
> Danny Yoo has an ongoing, supported project compiling Scheme to J2ME
> and Android.
>
> Plus, Manuel Serrano's Hop (based on Bigloo) does a GREAT job of
> working with JavaScript. 

Matthias & Shriram: 

Good-luck with all the outreach.

I would love to help, but unfortunately at this time can only supply encouragement and suggestions.  In my day-job as a start-up CTO I can only use ideas and can only justify limited development of tools, so we're making do with raw ActionScript 2 (and gnash teeth a little where the closure model and type-system are silly and where macros are sorely missed).  

[The tool that we did build is a kick-arse visual FITnesse-esque scenario-testing framework which we use in combination with simple DBC.]

My tips for groovy platforms for those who want to have commercial impact is to look to the cloudy and mobile platforms, which seems to already be happening in pieces:

* It sounds like JS is already reasonably well-covered and Android support is on the way with Danny Yoo and co. ...

* iPhone (i.e. target Objective C + libraries)
* Flash / Flex (RIA): Anyone who wants to target this should look at HaXe, which is written in OCaml and compiles down to AVM2 (Flash VMs), JS, and a custom VM.


-- Dan


