Esterel is a language for SynchronousReactiveProgramming which blurs the distinction between software, firmware, and hardware. It is intended for RealTime systems which need to react quickly to external events.

"The Esterel v5 compiler can be used to generate a software or hardware implementation of a reactive program. It can generate C-code to be embedded as a reactive kernel in a larger program that handles the interface and data manipulations. It can also generate hardware in the form of netlists of gates, which can then be embedded in a larger system."

* http://www-sop.inria.fr/esterel.org/
* http://www-sop.inria.fr/meije/esterel/esterel-eng.html

Our group (http://psas.pdx.edu/) is investigating Esterel for the distributed avionics control system in our rocket. It seems to promise compilation of a single source language onto a heterogeneous distributed system, having both a Linux hub and bare ARM subnodes. Has anyone else used this language? -- IanOsgood

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CategoryProgrammingLanguage