Running arbitrary user code in IOT systems safely like https://tasmota.github.io/docs/Berry/#rules

It's still receiving maintenance from contributors, but these sort projects reach a stable maturity and stay there for years fulfilling their use case.

One benefit can be more interactive development, or interaction with the embedded device. I think various forths were used on embedded systems also because of that.

And some projects just don't require much speed and benefit from a higher level lanuage. Reading a couple of sensors over I2C every few seconds, doing some "business logic" and serving data via a http server over wifi can be simpler to achieve in higher level language and the device will be idle for the most of the time anyway.

Micropython is a nice solution in that niche.

But for some projects you do want a lower level language if not for else maybe for lower battery consumption.

I don't use Berry (although its quite interesting), but I do use Lua in this context, and I find that putting a lot of embedded-application logic into a script is very productive - especially in the case where the VM is running and is passed a validated bytecode stream. This is quite an effective way of building sophisticated applications with embedded targets.

The repo has active development with commits from March 2025, and scripting languages like Berry enable rapid prototyping, runtime configuration changes, and user customization without reflashing firmware.

If you have an embedded system with a screen, say a 3d printer, it's probably nicer to write the UI in JavaScript than C.

However, now that I look at the syntax, Berry Script doesn't really look like a well designed language to me. It's like a weird mix of Lua, Python and Javascript. It's a very backwards looking (as in, it is emulating the past rather than innovating) language, where a lot of the differences only exist for the sake of being different and the more I read through the docs the more I think it looks like a bastardized Python and that I'd rather use MicroPython instead.

Adding to the list, DeviceScript, which affords running TypeScript on embedded devices:

https://microsoft.github.io/devicescript/intro

Let me say that Florian and co are super helpful and responsive with code examples, fixing bugs, and have built a very dependable language in Toit.

What's the advantage over MicroPython?

and it's the most conformant implementation to the latest specs of ECMAScript + of the ECMA-419 spec for js in iot

https://embedded.js.org/

Oh, they say it was inspired by Lua. So it's more like Wren I guess, but probably less performant than Wren too[1]. And less powerful than Lua since Lua metatables are half magic half genius. Still, I'd like to see a benchmark like this.

[1] https://wren.io/performance.html

It advertises interpreter size and RAM requirements front and center on the homepage, so I assume that's the main draw.

I'm not super familiar with embedded Lua but I believe it to require at least an order of magnitude more RAM and codespace than this, even without float support.

For my money, Berry is still a bit heavy. On a cheap M0 I'd rather have something with about half the required memory.

Using Lua for embedded scripting is a delight

Could you clarify? I'm kind of fuzzy on those terms. From the top of the article: Cortex-M is the example, and those are what I associate as microcontrollers. Maybe naming conventions? Maybe the former is the CPU, and the latter is the CPU + the periphs, flash, ram?

It also mentions heap, which is not something I associate with microcontrollers by default, but I notice a lot of RTOS and allocators lately when I look beyond my own stuff!

Personally I dislike subset languages because you end up with something that’s familiar yet incompatible with half the tools and libraries you’re already familiar with.

I’d rather learn something new.

Plus once you’ve learned a few different C-like languages, it’s usually really quick learning others. Something like this looks like it would be really easy to learn if you’ve already got familiarity with C (or similar). It’s not like having to learn Lisp or Datalog if your experience is in Java or Pascal.

Had exactly the same thought. The first thing on the list: invalid reference/null pointer exceptions, or whatever they're called here.

Java is somewhat successful in the embedded sphere.

I wouldn't exactly call Roomba niche... ;)

Meh. I absolutely agree that automatic memory management (and, often, any dynamic memory management, automatic or manual) on embedded is both a waste of power and problematic in terms of reliability, but that doesn't mean we should not try to improve C's rougher edges. Like, you know, dubious overflow handling rules, strict aliasing, lack of namespaces, no useable compile-time metaprogramming (when people say they hate preprocessors, they mostly mean they hate C preprocessor).

There's a big range of 'embedded' from CR2032-powered low-profile devices up to mains-powered logging devices with no size constraints. I agree in the first case you're unlikely to want GC but in the latter case it probably makes no difference

Given the rise of embedded linux, my last project was in Python! A complete waste of resources/memory but I get paid for results not for code

On the other hand, I have heard of Berry, but never Jerry. I thought Espruino was the more common JS for microcontrollers?

https://www.espruino.com/

Jerry requires 64KB of RAM. Not really in the same ballpark.