Re: Fortran H, was Bootstraping compilers ?

Comp.compilers wrote:


> Someone sent me an extracted version, so I did some grepping and line
> counting. It turns out the Fortran H source is about 45,000 lines of
> extended Fortran and 15,000 lines of assembler. That's pretty small
> considering what a sophisticated compiler it was.


As originally distributed, it ran using overlays.


In the days of virtual storage systems, it was common to run it
through the linker to remove the overlay structure.


One unusual feature of the OS/360 linkage editor is the ability
to read its own output. That allows for actual editing where,
for example, one subroutine or function is replaced without
recompiling the whole program. (Though the linker is often
slower than the compilers, so it isn't as useful as it might
seem.)


-- glen

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