Myforth, 8051 and minimalism

Programming in Myforth has given me a greater appreciation for minimalism.  (I suppose programming in ColorForth would be even better, but I don't have access to the proper hardware...)

Using minimalistic (simple) tools forces you to approach a problem differently.  I felt some of this back in the 80's when all I had was a little Commodore 64 and some big ideas, but coming back to minimalism from two decades of big iron is refreshing.

I now look at a problem and think "what is the simplest way to solve this?".  This takes on a deeper meaning when you consider that the tools force you to find simpler ways. When all you have is 768 bytes of RAM and 8KB of flash, you have to think in simple terms.

Take, for instance, the problem of geofencing.  I do GPS trackers (on 16-bit micros) for my day job.  I have an MSP430, 16KB of RAM and 256KB of program space (flash).  The trackers I build have a concept called geofencing. Here you define polygons or circles that affect how the GPS points are handled. Sometimes you want to log at a different rate based on the fence you are in; sometimes you want to "beacon" (transmit) at a different rate.

Programming a fence algorithm can be tricky (and computationally intensive). In addition, GPS coordinates are represented typically in (at least) scaled 32 bit values (w/ 5 decimal digit precision).

Thirty-two bit math is taxing for an MCU that only supports 8-bit math. What is a lowly 8-bit to do?
Well, if your "problem domain" only needs to deal with fences defined around just a few miles, you can truncate a lot of the math to 16 (or fewer) bits while retaining precision. Once you know that you are "in the ball park", you only need to look at the lower bits.  You don't need to consider the whole 32 bits.

This is a good example of how refining the problem domain helps generate a simpler (smaller) solution. Even if I used 16 bit or 32 bit MCUs, this can save me some processing time. (My field is "low power consumption" solutions, so saving processing time equals saving power).