Re: Tutorial question (Jack Crenshaw)

Hi,
> This is my 1st post inhere because I am too enthiousastic about
> building a c-compiler.


    Welcome! This is my first post here too, but I've visited this group
frequently over the last year or so. It is truely a wealth of
information.


> Is anybody interrested in the finishing of the famous 'Jack Crenshaw'
> tutorials ? These go to tutor nr 16 and never finishes the complete
> implementation.


    Actually, I am extremely interested in a very similar venture. I've
always admired Jack Crenshaw's tutorial because it gave me the first
introduction to building compilers. One of my promises to myself was
once I learned how to build a compiler, I would contribute back to by
writing a tutorial just like Jack Crenshaw did. However, I never did
stop and think about whether or not other people would find such a
work beneficial or not - so thanks for asking your question.


> I have an idea to make additional tutorials to build a real working
> c-compiler for the 68000 family CPU's, written in the ansi c language
> (not the Pascal that he used). I am almost finishing my compiler
> myself at the moment, and it includes almost everything like local
> vars, multi dimentional arrays, structures and the typical c things
> like ++, *= etc.


    Same here, except I've been experimenting more with building a
BASIC-like compiler in cross-platform C++ on x86 Windows & Linux
platforms.


> I would like to know if there is any interest in further tutorials
> based on the ones that Jack Crenshaw wrote. Maybe this is old history
> and technique has evolved, I don't know.


    Although I'd be interested in other peoples opinions, I don't think
so. From what I have heard and my personal experience, Jack Crenshaw's
tutorial is definately an excellent introduction to many people just
breaking into the field, but it could definately using some updating.


    A good tutorial that clearly uses the C language to build a C
compiler would be a boon to the community. Many people have, out of
necessecity, learned C, while others have forgotten or never learned
Pascal. Also, a finished series that thouroughly explores and
completes a compiler would be great.


    So I'd say that you are on the right track.


Sincerely,
Brian C. Becker

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