I'm looking for a compiler or interpreter for a language with basic math support and File IO which can be executed directly from a memorystick in either Linux or Windows. Built in functionality for basic datastructures and sorting/searching would be a plus.
(I've read about movable python, but it only supports windows)
Thank you
Not sure what are the issues there for the other languages, but I am pretty sure that Lua will work fine on such environment.
It is perfect for your requirements: basic I/O, math functions, excellent data structures (all based on numeric and associative array, with any kind of key/values, allowing the most complex operations).
Bonus: very simple to learn (for the bases, at least), readable, and powerful when you start to dig. And it starts to have a number of useful libraries, sockets, regexes and parsers, GUI, etc.
It is just a single binary file, no install at all, no registry access, no file access (beyond reading the binary and script!) if not requested, totally transparent: it is often used in embedded system, often memory constrained, on Roms, etc.
The Java JDK easily fits on a stick, and does not require installation; You can install it to a PC first and then just copy the install directory to the stick. I presume you can do the same for the Linux JDK.
And there's a ton of good text editors that don't require installation.
There is a python distribution called Movable Python which is designed to do exactly that. It might do what you want. Also, MinGW/MSYS will run on Windows with no registry entries or other installation beyond placing the files in a directory tree - all you need to do is set up the relevant directories in the path, which can be done in a batch file.
I'm way late for this party, but I thought I'd weigh in anyway.
I currently have a Windows-usable USB stick with the following installed on it (for Windows):
Languages
Programming Tools
Geek Toys
And a cast of dozens in key libraries, plus the Geronimo application server.
Yes, this is a single USB stick, and I probably missed an item here or there while making this list. It's amazing what you can run off of a USB stick these days.
Not sure if it still applies to current versions, but I have an ancient perl.exe (version 5.001, from 1994 or 1995) that still works perfectly fine as a no-installation single executable.
TCC (the Tiny C Compiler) is a full implementation of C in a really small package. You can even write shell scripts in C:
#!/usr/local/bin/tcc -run
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
printf("Hello World\n");
return 0;
}
TCC is available for any Unix-like platform, and also for Windows.
You could use DevCpp, it comes with Mingw 3.x or CodeLite (Mingw 4.x) for C/C++. For Pascal you can use DevPas, for Python web development try InstantDjango or better yet Web2py (very nice indeed!), for Ruby you have InstanRails, for Perl you got a complete enviroment (even a C compiler!) with StrawberryPerl. You could install cygwin on the USB drive. There are a lot more options out there. Interested in a LISP like portable/cross-platform and little language? Try newlisp (its a gem!). Also you could run almost anything (linux or windows based) on a portable VM under Portable VirtualBox/VMplayer or QEmu with a performance tax ;).
http://smallbasic.sourceforge.net/
Runs anywhere (even mobiles) and has everything you need.
Why not C++? You can statically link in any external librarys assuming there lisence allows it, and you won't have any external dependencies.
