Re: Using C as an UNCOL

fjh@mundook.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Fergus Henderson)
21 Jun 1996 17:05:13 -0400

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Re: Using C as an UNCOL dave@occl-cam.demon.co.uk (Dave Lloyd) (1996-06-13)
Re: Using C as an UNCOL dw3u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Daniel C Wang) (1996-06-14)
Re: Using C as an UNCOL fjh@mundook.cs.mu.OZ.AU (1996-06-21)
Re: Using C as an UNCOL darius@phidani.be (Darius Blasband) (1996-06-21)
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From: fjh@mundook.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Fergus Henderson)
Newsgroups: comp.compilers
Date: 21 Jun 1996 17:05:13 -0400
Organization: Comp Sci, University of Melbourne
References: 96-05-061 96-05-163 96-06-044 96-06-054 96-06-066
Keywords: C, UNCOL



Dave Lloyd <dave@occl-cam.demon.co.uk> writes:
> In summary, C is sufficient as an intermediate, but it is too poor for
> high-performance compilers of larger languages.


Daniel C Wang <dw3u+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>There are lots of langauges that don't need high-performance compilers and
>rather be portable. I'm personally of the opinion that for that large subset
>of langauges an UNCOL that has some of the same properties that makes C good
>for such a job with fixes for things that make C a pain is only a matter of
>engineering. So I'm puzzled why someone hasn't done it yet. Has ANDF and
>other failed attempts left such a bad taste in everyone's mouth?


One of the most important properties that makes C good as an intermediate
target language is that there are good optimizing backends (C compilers)
available for the vast majority of platforms.


GNU C provides some fixes for many of the things that make C a pain as a
target language, but GNU C is not as portable as ANSI C, and there are
some platforms for which GNU C is significantly worse than the best
available C compilers.


Creating a new intermediate language is easy; creating good optimizing
backends for a variety of platforms is hard.


--
Fergus Henderson <fjh@cs.mu.oz.au>
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh>
PGP: finger fjh@128.250.37.3
--

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