Linux Unleashed, Third Edition:Other Compilers





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LISP
LISP is the quintessential artificial intelligence language, developed in the late 1950s to research the AI field. A LISP compiler called clisp is included with most Linux CD-ROMs and can be obtained from all the standard FTP sites that offer Linux software.
Modula-3
The Modula-3 language is a development by Digital Equipment Corporation of the popular Modula-2 language (which itself is an outgrowth of Pascal). Modula-3 is an object-oriented language designed for developing multiprocess distributed applications. Modula-3 is X-based and uses an attractive GUI.


Tip:  Several FTP sites offer versions of Modula-3 for Linux. You can find several versions at the FTP site gatekeeper.dec.com in the directory /pub/DEC/Modula-3 and from the site ftp.vlsi.polymtl.ca in the directory /pub/m3/binaries/LINUX/m3. The Modula-3 home page on the Web is http://www.research.digital.com/SRC/.

There are new releases of Modula-3 at intervals, so check the directories mentioned above for each release’s subdirectory and tar files.
OGI Speech Tools
OGI Speech Tools is, as the name suggests, a language for speech manipulation used for several purposes, including speech analysis and signal manipulation. The OSI tool was developed at the Center for Spoken Language Understanding. With the OGI Speech Tools you can build parsers and databases of spoken words, leading to a voice interface for Linux. A sound card is required for the OGI Speech Tools to work under Linux.


Tip:  Several FTP sites offer OGI Speech Tools for Linux. You can find the most recent version at the FTP site sunsite.unc.edu in the directory /pub/Linux/apps/sound or at the site tsx-11.mit.edu in the directory /pub/Linux/packages/ogi.

Documentation for the OGI Speech Tools (which are fairly complex) is in the FTP directories.

Scheme
Scheme is an artificial intelligence language related to LISP but with some C thrown in. Scheme is a flexible language that is surprisingly easy to learn and work with. There are several versions of Scheme available from FTP archive sites, as well as conversion tools to other languages.

Scilab
Scilab is a mathematical package designed to allow matrix manipulation, graphing, and function design for scientists and engineers. Scilab is a public-domain package designed to compete with expensive commercial mathematics packages, although the latter tend to have better features and support. Scilab was developed at the Institut de Recherche Informatique et Automatique (INRIA) in France.


Tip:  Scilab can be downloaded from the FTP site ftp.inria.fr in the directory /INRIA/Projects/Meta2/Scilab. There are several versions usually available and you should obtain the latest release.

Scilab is remarkably easy to learn to work with, even for those who have never used an interactive mathematics language before. It runs in an X window and has surprising flexibility and power.

Summary
These are only a few of the popular languages available for Linux. Browsing through any of the FTP sites listed in Appendix A, “Linux FTP Sites and Newsgroups,” should reveal more languages for you to play with. If you are looking for a particular language, use a search engine to try and locate it. Chances are good that someone will have adapted it for you. From here, you can read the following related chapters:


The Smalltalk language and the Linux X implementation of it is discussed in Chapter 31, “Smalltalk/X.”
Setting up your Linux system to allow email in and out of your site, which is especially handy for talking to other users of your favorite compiler, is described in Chapter 40, “Configuring Linux for Mail.”
Downloading and reading newsgroups from Usenet, handy for keeping up with the latest happenings with each language you use, is discussed in Chapter 41, “Configuring Linux for News.”





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