Today a BASIC interpreter, tomorrow a BASIC compiler

A side project is building a compiler for the BASIC programming language. (Why? Because it's fun!)

A previous fun project was a BASIC interpreter. (Two interpreters, actually.) For them, I used Ruby. The projects were a way for me to learn the Ruby language, and I succeeded.

For the compiler, I want a language different from Ruby. I find Ruby is an excellent language for high-level concepts; I don't know that it can read and write individual bytes and I don't know how it can convert integers and real numbers to bytes. (It probably can, perhaps with the assistance of a library.)

If the language will not be Ruby, what will it be? First, a few requirements:

It has to run under Linux. I use Linux for my development work and I don't see that changing.

Specifically, it has to run on my workstation, a venerable Apple PowerBook G4 which runs Ubuntu Server 16.04 LTS. It has to run in text mode (which just about every language does).

My plan is to create a compiler that generates bytecode, or p-code. I'm not going to target a real processor like the Intel 386 or ARM chip; I will write bytecode and use a runtime system to execute them, much like Java and C#.

Some possible languages and thoughts:

C++: Available on Linux. But my day job sees me working with lots of C++ code, and I want something different.

C: Not C++, but not quite different enough. And I am comfortable in C; another language is another opportunity to learn.

C#: Available on Linux, but I'm not sure that the .NET environment is available for the PowerPC architecture. And I would rather have a compiler language, not a bytecode language. (My own bytecodes will be enough, thank you!)

VB.NET: Exact same problems as C#.

Java: Available but uses a bytecode arrangement as C#.

Python: If not Ruby, why not Python? I'm using it for a different project, so not for this one. And it is not a true compiled language.

Perl: Umm... no.

Go: Possible. There is some support for PowerPC, and it may run on my PowerBook.

Swift: Compiled. May be available for the PowerPC. My preference, knowing nothing about either language, is for Go rather than Swift.

Pascal: Compiled. Probably available for PowerPC. A language I know. (Or knew, a long time ago.)

Forth: Interpreted and not compiled. Probably available for Powerbook. The Forth I learned was an operating system and took over the computer. Can modern Forth read and write files?

Objective C or Objective C++: I don't see a future for either of these languages. Learning them now would be... unprofitable.

Fortran: Really no.

Ada: More "no" than Fortran.

* * * * *

Update:

There is a Go compiler for Linux, and it does run on the PowerPC processor. I've installed it and written "Hello, world!".

There is a Pascal compiler for Linux, and it does run on the PowerPC. Almost. The "Free Pascal" package doesn't install on Ubuntu 16.04, and I'm not the only one to experience problems. It also appears that Free Pascal is the only Pascal compiler for Linux. Therefore, Pascal is out.

With no option for Pascal, I'm choosing Go as the language. (In full disclosure, I must admit that I tried very little to resolve the problem with Free Pascal. Maybe I wanted to use Go all along, and the install failure was enough to push me to Go.)