Amiga E, or very often simply E, is a

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...

created by Wouter van Oortmerssen on the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

. He has since moved on to develop the SHEEP programming language for the new AmigaDE platform and the CryScript language (also known as DOG) used during the development of the

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

Far Cry ''Far Cry'' is an anthology franchise of first-person shooter games, all of which have been published by Ubisoft. The first game, '' Far Cry'', was developed by Crytek to premiere their CryEngine software, and released in March 2004. Subsequen ...

Description

Amiga E is a combination of many features from a number of languages, but follows the original

C programming language ''The C Programming Language'' (sometimes termed ''K&R'', after its authors' initials) is a computer programming book written by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, the latter of whom originally designed and implemented the language, as well a ...

most closely in terms of basic concepts. Amiga E's main benefits are fast compilation (allowing it to be used in place of a scripting language), very readable

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the ...

, flexible type system, powerful module system, exception handling (not C++ variant) and

Object oriented programming Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or ''properties''), and the code is in the form of pr ...

. A "hello world" program in Amiga E looks like: Amiga E was used to create the core of the popular Amiga graphics software

Photogenics Photogenics is raster graphic editing software produced by Idruna Software. Features Photogenics can work with different color models like CMYK and HDR. Supported HDR formats include OpenEXR, TIFF, Alias, Cineon/PDX, and others. The program i ...

History

1993: The first public release of Amiga E. 1997: The last version of Amiga E is released (3.3a). 1999: Unlimited compiler executable of Amiga E is released. 1999: Source code of the Amiga E compiler in M68K assembler is released under the GPL. 1999: First version of CreativE is released. Based on Sourcecode of Amiga E. 1999: First version of PowerD is released. (0.01) 2000: First version of YAEC (Yet Another E Compiler) is released. (1.0) 2001: Final version of CreativE (2.12.3) is released. 2002: Final version of YAEC is released (2.5d). 2002: First public release of ECX. (1.0) 2003: Final version of PowerD is released. (0.20) 2008: First public release of PortablE. (r1) 2008: First public release of RE. (0.9) 2009: First public release of PortablE for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

. (r4)

Implementations

''Amiga E'', by
Wouter van Oortmerssen Wouter is a Dutch masculine given name popular in the Netherlands and Belgium. It is the Dutch equivalent of the English name Walter and French name Gauthier, both of Germanic origin, meaning "ruler of the army", "army of the forest" or "bright ...

The first compiler, written in M68k assembler. Support tools written in E. Generates M68000 machine code directly. :*Platforms:

AmigaOS AmigaOS is a family of proprietary native operating systems of the Amiga and AmigaOne personal computers. It was developed first by Commodore International and introduced with the launch of the first Amiga, the Amiga 1000, in 1985. Early versions ...

and compatibles. :*Targets: AmigaOS with

68000 The Motorola 68000 (sometimes shortened to Motorola 68k or m68k and usually pronounced "sixty-eight-thousand") is a 16/32-bit complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessor, introduced in 1979 by Motorola Semiconductor Products Secto ...

CPU. :*Status: Stable, mature, discontinued, source available,

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the ...

''CreativE'', by Tomasz Wiszkowski.

Based on the GPL sources of Amiga E and adds many extensions to the compiler. :*Platforms: AmigaOS and compatibles. :*Targets: Like Amiga E + some limited support for generating code that takes advantage of later M680x0 CPUs. :*Status: Stable, mature, discontinued, source available, freeware.

''PowerD'', by Martin Kuchinka.

Based on the AmigaE language, but not compatible with it due to changes in syntax. :*Platforms: AmigaOS and compatibles. :*Targets: AmigaOS 3.0 68020 CPU+FPU, PPC. :*Status: Stable, mature, under development, closed source, freeware.

''YAEC'', by Leif Salomonsson.

Written from scratch in E. Uses external assembler and linker. :*Platforms: AmigaOS and compatibles. :*Targets: AmigaOS 3.0 with 68020 CPU and FPU. :*Status: Obsolete, unfinished, discontinued,

closed source Proprietary software is software that is deemed within the free and open-source software to be non-free because its creator, publisher, or other rightsholder or rightsholder partner exercises a legal monopoly afforded by modern copyright and inte ...

, freeware.

''ECX'', by Leif Salomonsson.

A compiler and tools written from scratch in E, can compile itself, supports multiple targets and adds many extensions. :*Platforms: AmigaOS,

AmigaOS 4 AmigaOS 4 (abbreviated as OS4 or AOS4) is a line of Amiga operating systems which runs on PowerPC microprocessors. It is mainly based on AmigaOS 3.1 source code developed by Commodore, and partially on version 3.9 developed by Haage & Partne ...

and

MorphOS MorphOS is an AmigaOS-like computer operating system (OS). It is a mixed proprietary and open source OS produced for the Pegasos PowerPC (PPC) processor based computer, PowerUP accelerator equipped Amiga computers, and a series of Freescale dev ...

. :*Targets: AmigaOS 3.0 68020, AmigaOS 4, MorphOS. :*Status: Stable, mature, under development, closed source (was open source), shareware (was freeware).

''RE'', by Marco Antoniazzi.

Based on the AmigaE language, but not fully compatible, with some changes in syntax and additions, inspired by PowerD. :*Platforms: AmigaOS and compatibles. :*Targets: AmigaOS 3.0 68020 CPU+FPU, PPC. :*Status: Stable, closed source, freeware.

''Portabl E'', by Christopher Handley.

A meta-compiler written from scratch in E, can compile itself, supports multiple targets. :*Platforms:

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for se ...

(68k),

(PPC),

AROS Aros may refer to: *Aros (Middle-earth), a river in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium * Aros, Mull, the location of Aros Castle, a ruined 13th-century castle on the Isle of Mull, Scotland *AROS Research Operating System, a free software i ...

and

. :*Targets: C++ and Amiga E. :*Status: Stable, mature, under development, closed source, freeware.

''E-VO'', by Darren Coles.

Based on the GPL sources of Amiga E and adds many extensions to the compiler. :*Platforms: AmigaOS and compatibles. :*Targets: Like Amiga E. :*Targets: AmigaOS with

and 020+ CPU. :*Status: Stable, mature, under development, source available, freeware.

References

External links

Amiga E home page

ECX home page (a free PowerPC CPU implementation)

PortablE home page (a free Windows & Amiga-compatibles implementation)

Amiga E mailing list

The original Amiga E manual (for v3.3a)

A Beginner's Guide to Amiga E

RE on Aminet
{{AmigaOS Procedural programming languages Amiga development software AmigaOS 4 software MorphOS software AROS software Programming languages created in 1993 Free software Systems programming languages