How long does it take to build a compiler?

Greetings,


I run a tiny software company and the company has built an object library
using c++ on DOS. Now, I want to build a compiler on top of it. I'll
enhance an existing, simple and well-defined language in mind to immitate.
(It includes about 70 rules in BNF notation. I think I'll add about
fifteen more rules.)


Although I'm going to hire a programmer who knows compiler-contruction in
the very near future, I need to estimate the time period for the project.
(I know not a thing about compiler-construction.)


So assuming we are using yacc++ on DOS (I hope yacc++ on DOS exist), the
questions are:


      what are the difficulties in compiler-construction in general?
      I assume building a compiler on DOS will create a lot of problems,
          what are the problems created by DOS?
      how difficult is it to add a few compiler-options as many other
          compilers do?
[You need to define your question better. For example, do you want to
create object and executable files, like most C compilers do? Or do you
want to compile into some intermediate code and interpret it, which is
considerably easier. Or you might compile into C or C++ and then compile
that, avoiding a lot of the grotty back end issues. How important is it
that the resulting code be fast or small? Portable? Depending on the
answers to these kinds of questions, the time it takes can be anywhere from
a month to several hundred man-years. -John]
--

Return to the comp.compilers page.
Search the comp.compilers archives again.