Re: Possible to write compiler to Java VM?

gmckee@cloudnine.com (Gary McKee)
12 Feb 1996 23:43:40 -0500

          From comp.compilers

Related articles
[23 earlier articles]
Re: Possible to write compiler to Java VM? ok@cs.rmit.edu.au (1996-02-01)
Re: Possible to write compiler to Java VM? gmckee@cloudnine.com (1996-02-02)
Re: Possible to write compiler to Java VM? darius@phidani.be (Darius Blasband) (1996-02-04)
Re: Possible to write compiler to Java VM? salomon@silver.cs.umanitoba.ca (1996-02-09)
Re: Possible to write compiler to Java VM? macrakis@osf.org (1996-02-09)
Re: Possible to write compiler to Java VM? shellgate!rgh@uu4.psi.com (Richard G. Hash) (1996-02-09)
Re: Possible to write compiler to Java VM? gmckee@cloudnine.com (1996-02-12)
Re: Possible to write compiler to Java VM? ncohen@watson.ibm.com (1996-02-13)
Re: marking mystery code dewar@cs.nyu.edu (1996-02-13)
Re: Maintaining old code genew@mindlink.bc.ca (1996-02-13)
Re: maintaining old C code Roger@natron.demon.co.uk (Roger Barnett) (1996-02-14)
Re: marking mystery code xanthian@qualcomm.com (1996-02-24)
Re: Possible to write compiler to Java VM? wwgrol@pseserv3.fw.hac.com (W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)) (1997-01-02)
| List of all articles for this month |

From: gmckee@cloudnine.com (Gary McKee)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.java,comp.compilers,comp.lang.ada
Date: 12 Feb 1996 23:43:40 -0500
Organization: McKee Consulting (Technology Asessment)
References: 96-01-116 96-02-027 96-02-059
Keywords: Java, C, comment



gmckee@cloudnine.com (Gary McKee) writes:
> The reason C is popular with coders is that, generally, they never
> have to maintain other people's code. I've never met anyone
> responsible for C language code maintenance who speaks well of the C
> Language.


salomon@silver.cs.umanitoba.ca (Daniel J. Salomon) wrote:
  > Have you ever taken a look at the code for the gcc compiler, the X
  > windows package, or LINUX. These are three huge C projects that have
  > passed from coder to coder and they are a mess. They are full of
  > comments like "I think this code is right," and "This code segment
  > disabled until someone figures out what it is for." Nevertheless these
  > projects are very widely used, and users appreciate the times that they
  > succeed more than they complain about the few times that they fail.


Your comment certainly substantiates my (implied) assertion about the
maintainability of C language code. I agree that gcc and etc. are
valuable and popular but this has little to do with how maintainable
they are.


Incidentally, I saw similar comments and code obfuscations when
maintaining Fortran IV code 20 years ago. It is depressing that the
FSF sponsored code products haven't been designed, implemented, and
maintained at a higher level of professionalism than what was common
in 1976.


What's that latin phrase about "the more things change, the more they
seem the same" ?
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Gary McKee McKee Consulting
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voice: (303) 795-7287 Littleton, CO 80161-3009
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[Well, pretty late Latin. -John]
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