The Perl and Raku Conference 2024 in Las Vegas

Microcontrollers (μC) are single-chip integrated circuits which contain one or more CPUs along with memory and programmable input / output peripherals. Microcontrollers are used for embedded applications, such as industrial control systems and home appliances, some of which may be referred to as part of the Internet-of-Things (IoT). They are often a set of one or more interconnected circuit boards which can perform multiple tasks such as collecting and processing sensor data. For example, a microcontroller may process, communicate, monitor, and control hardware equipment such as motors, pumps, power generators, wind turbines, or automotive engines. Billions of microcontroller chips are manufactured and sold by various semiconductor companies every year, along with packaged software so their customers can program the devices to suit their needs.

C language cross-compilers are widely used to generate assembly (ASM) code for a specific μC device. Perl interpreters & cross-compilers that support a subset of the Perl syntax could be implemented to program, monitor, and debug microcontrollers. Such a Perl cross-compiler would run on a desktop Perl environment and generate a binary image which can be downloaded onto the microcontroller's circuit board.

A cross-compiler ecosystem would be mutually beneficial for both Perl developers and end users who rely on microcontroller-based hardware systems. This would open up opportunities to re-use Perl libraries which currently run only on normal desktop and server CPUs. Expertise in programming IoT hardware via Perl would not only create jobs for college graduates who spend time and resources to learn Perl, but also help existing Perl developers to improve their career options and pay grades, because many embedded-systems jobs demand a great deal of domain-specific knowledge and thus offer higher salaries.