Re: Java virtual machine as target language for C/C++

Rinie Kervel <rinie@incore.xs4all.nl> wrote:
>I know that Java does not support pointer arithmetic.
>
>But as the Java virtual machine gets integrated in many OSes it would
>be nice to use it as a target language for other languages.


Set the dial on the way-back machine to 1975...


FORTRAN-IV under CP/V on the SDS/XEROX/Honeywell Sigma 6 didn't
support pointers, either, yet we used it to implement virtual machines
for languages that did support pointers...


Basicly, the concept was that any pointer could be represented as an
index into an array.


Think about it for a while - the rest is left as an exercise for the
reader ;-).


I've heard that ADA implementation(s) have targeted JAVA, so I
suspect, modulo unconstrained pointers, other languages could be
supported, as well.


Remember, there is no problem in CS that can't be solved by another
level of indirection.


[Everything old is new again...each generation must discover the
truths of the preceeding generation on its own.]
--
Kirk Hays
--

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