Re: Possible to write compiler to Java VM?

Tore Joergensen <tore@lis.pitt.edu> wrote:
>[...deleted...]
>: The very idea that a compiler (cross compiler, actually) can be built
>: to emit Java byte-codes from a foreign langauge stems from the idea
>: that the essence of the language is its syntax. This may be true of
>: some languages, but Java has at its core an extensive class
>: library. When a Java applet is written, the programmer reuses the code
>: in those libraries. A compiler which merely translates a legacy app
>: written in another language can take very little advantage of the Java
>: libraries. As a result, the executable will be large and cumbersome.


So the library has to be callable from many languages. This is nontrivial,
but it's not impossible either.


>: In fact, it may not be possible at all to automatically generate
>: byte-codes which will pass the security checks for code that was not
>: designed to operate within the security constraints of the Java model.
>[...deleted...]


Here is my estimation of how hard it would be to translate various languages
to the JVM. YMMV.


Relatively straightforward:
    Ada95, Modula-3, most Basics


More difficult (problems are MI and genericity):
    Eiffel, Sather


Requires extensive VM changes:
    Smalltalk, Scheme, CLOS, other Lisps, Dylan, Self


Impossible automatically:
    C, C++


David Hopwood
david.hopwood@lmh.ox.ac.uk


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