"Is it possible to port Perl into a mobile devices?"

# uname -a
Darwin Darren 9.0.0d1 Darwin Kernel Version 9.0.0d1: Wed Oct 10 00:07:
+50 PDT 2007; root:xnu-933.0.0.204.obj~7/RELEASE_ARM_S5L8900XRB iPhone
+1,1 unknown
# perl -v

This is perl, v5.8.8 built for arm-apple-darwin-2level
[download]

Cheers,
Darren

Which is a damn shame. Since Android is Linux (or stripped down version thereof), it should be possible. (I've used Perl on both the Zaurus and the Nokia N770/800).

Hopefully, enough developers will scream for C/C++ access that Google will relent (after all, libc is listed in their pretty architecture picture).

Maybe Google's Python dictator will be able to pry it open enough for Perl and Ruby to sneak in (tho Jython/JRuby may obviate the need for that).

There is a Perl for Android as part of the Scripting Layer for Android (SL4A).

Also, there is (now) a native development kit (C/C++)--it just is short on libraries/functionality when compared to Linux.

Useful news and welcome.

Althought OPoster didn't mention it (assumed to be a given, maybe?), note the caveat at the linked page, "SL4A is designed for developers and is alpha quality software."

Hm... maybe we need to do a perl6 implementation in java.

root@fic-gta01:~$ uname -a
Linux fic-gta01 2.6.24 #1 PREEMPT Thu Feb 14 11:13:21 UTC 2008 armv4tl unknown
root@fic-gta01:~$ perl -v

This is perl, v5.8.8 built for arm-linux-gnueabi

root@fic-gta01:~$ df /
Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mtdblock4           62576     51872     10704  83% /

To be honest, other than script to change LCD backlight level (just for fun, no practical value) I didn't do much development for on this GTA01 (developers release) device.

I had plan to write xs bindings for OpenMoko UI libraries, but I got distracted by other things, and all-in-all this unit is really development device with various quirks which prevents you to do development on it and use it at same time, so it was neglected for quite some time.

However, my biggest gripe is battery life, and since this required fixes in hardware there is no hope for my unit. However, mass-produced GTA02 unit would be much better match for serious development if for nothing else because it has graphic accelerator which this one lacks (which makes whole GUI somewhat sluggish compared to several years old cell phone).

I am interested in porting Perl to the Android, mostly because I hate programming in Java. Although I am not sure where to start, if anyone has any ideas to form a project to do so, please let me know. -Avron

Have a look at Perldroid, a project that appears to be dead now. They got Perl working on the emulator, but not on the G1 because that ran an older version of the libc. Maybe it'll work with the new 1.5 "Cupcake" release, that's on the new HTC Magic phone.

Severe tuit shortage prevents me from trying it myself.