Nick Astrobe

Home of Astrobe

So my Signature will be NickAstrobe here (nickname: astrobe). There is some rational behind this violation of the rules regarding RealNames? on this Wiki: 1) I've always been using the "Astrobe" nickname (sometimes astrobefr). So if you see this nick elsewhere one the net, chances are that it is me. 2) The reason why I use this nick is that I do want to disconnect my online and my offline activities.

Anyway, anyone wanting to know my real name probably may with the help of Google.

I am a software engineer, working mostly in the area of high-end embedded devices. I tend to look any software from this point of view. Which is not bad, because embbeded software usely has to be more efficient and more reliable than "desktop software".

I learned to program on the well-known family computers of the eighties, namely the ThomsonTO-7 then the Amstrad CPC. My first language was Basic. When I switched to the PC (it was in the 386 era), I learned to program in 8086 assembly language. After writing a few little programs (among other things a little text editor with kind of multiwindow capability) I started to implement Forth interpreters.

I wrote my own standalone Forth system, named "4IM". It could boot, recompile itself from source and reboot in less than a minute. Later, I converted it to C in order to link and extend it easily with the gazillion of available C libraries. Among other things, I linked it against a tiny GUI library, GraphApp?, and made a few utilities for my own use. The whole thing must be still available online, and I have a (unreleased) version that interfaces with the Irrlicht 3D engine.

I am currently trying to design a language for non-programmers. I'm reading this wiki because it is a good way to make up my mind about the pros, cons, advantages and downsides of a given design decision.