Red/System, the low-level C class Red dialect for systems programming, in which the high-level, dynamic Red language will be written, has reached beta status after only half a year of development. It now supports using dynamic libraries on Syllable. For that, the generator for the ELF backend needed to be extended.

We have already contributed two library bindings to the Red project: an almost complete binding with the standard C library at the ANSI C level, and a high performance binding for the ZeroMQ messaging system. These libraries can now be used from Red/System programs, providing good coverage for basic programming needs and advanced communication programming. A network server and its messaging client are quite easy.

Initially, the Red/System compiler required the graphical REBOL/View version of REBOL, but it has been freed from that dependency, so REBOL/Core is now sufficient. The result is that the compiler can now run on Syllable Server. Installation instructions are here. Cross-compiling is trivially easy with Red. For example, the canonical demo program can be compiled for Syllable Desktop on Syllable Server like this:

    rebol -s rsc.r -t Syllable %/path/to/tests/hello.reds

    rebol -s rsc.r -t MSDOS %/path/to/tests/hello.reds