Single-threading is more memory-efficient
Single-threading with super-loops or job queues may make more efficient use of a microcontroller’s memory over time, and Microvium’s closures make single-threading easier with callback-style async code.
Short-lived memory is cheaper
TL;DR: RAM on a microcontroller should not just be thought of as space but as space-time: a task that occupies the same memory but for a longer time is more expensive. MCU memory is expensive If you’re reading this, I probably don’t need to tell you: RAM on a microcontroller is typically very constrained. A …
Microvium: updated memory model
TL;DR Microvium can now address up to 64 kB of ROM, up from 32 kB previously, and now runs more efficiently on small 32-bit devices such as an ARM Cortex MCU. This is a minor update regarding the data model in Microvium (previous post here), for the kind of person who’s interested in this kind …
Microvium Closure Variable Indexing
TL;DR: In many situations, a program in Microvium bytecode can access closure variables with just a single-byte bytecode instruction. The instruction contains a 4-bit index that either indexes into the current lexical scope or recursively overflows to the next-outer lexical scope, cascading up the lexical scope chain until the variable is found. In this post, …
Incidental vs Accidental Complexity
Developers often talk about accidental vs essential software complexity. But is there a difference between accidental complexity and incidental complexity? I think there is. I like this definition of essential complexity: Essential complexity is how hard something is to do, regardless of how experienced you are, what tools you use or what new and flashy …
Immutable.js vs Immer
This week I came across the library Immer as a convenient way of manipulating immutable data in JavaScript. After reading this Reddit thread that raves about how much better Immer is than Immutable.Js, I was worried I’d made the wrong decision to use Immutable.js in Microvium. But some performance tests quickly cleared up my concerns. …
Distributed apps in JavaScript
This post is different from my usual topic of Microvium. I’ve been recently frustrated with the way that distributed applications are written and I’ve been brainstorming ways it could be improved. In my last post on the topic, I suggested that maybe a new programming language would be useful for solving the problem, but I …
Quality vs Quantity
It’s an age-old debate, but as I get older, my perspective is changing. I feel increasingly frustrated by tools that don’t work smoothly; tools that weren’t thought out very well. And I ask myself, wouldn’t my life be better without these? TL;DR The economic incentive for product development is not always aligned with what makes …
A Distributed Language
TL;DR I think it would be great to have a language where single instance of a program can run non-stop for 10 years across a dynamic, heterogeneous mix of hardware, where the program code can perform its own allocation and management of infrastructure resources such as databases, VMs, and public IP addresses, as well as …
New Garbage Collector!
It’s only been a few weeks since the Alpha release of Microvium and I’ve already almost rewritten the engine! There are two major changes I wanted to make to improve performance: I’ve moved to a great new garbage collection algorithm which is much faster and has a smaller memory footprint in both RAM and codespace. …