Choosing a language for compiler design

    Hy,


    Now that I have an Yacc/Lex files for Oberon, I face the problem of
  choosing a language for its implementation.
    I have versions of Yacc/Lex for C, C++, Turbo Pascal and Ada.
    There are several issues regarding the choosen language, some of them
  are :


  -- C :
    For:
      It's widely used for building compilers.
      It's small and fast.


    Against:
      It's very error prone.
      Has a very badly implemented module system.
      We all know their famous pointer problems.


-- C++
  For:
    It's going to be the language of choice for the next years.
    Many of the errors of C are caught by the compiler.
    It's an object oriented language with many nice features like
  templates and exceptions.


  Against:
    It's a mountrous regarding the total number of features (I think
  that it is even bigger than Ada95).
    Every compiler has a different set of libraries.
    Not all of the avaliable compilers fully suport the standard.


-- Turbo Pascal:
  For:
    A great version of the Pascal language.
    It also supports object orientation.
    Due to rigouros type checking the compiler would be more robust.


  Against:
    It's non standart.
    It only exists in the MS-DOS and in the Windows 3.* systems.


-- Ada:
  For:
    It's Pascal based.
    It's a very robust language that is actualy used for software enginering.
    It supports object oriented programing (Ada95).
    It has a good module implementation.
    Has generics.
    Has exceptions.


  Against:
    It's not widely accepted by some people.
    It hasn't as many tools as C++.




    I would like to receive the opinion of persons that deal with compiler
  construction, because this is my first attempt to make one.
    Bye and I hope that this thread doesn't has many english errors.
--
| Paulo Pinto, pjmlp@students.si.fct.unl.pt |
[Depends what your goals are. If it's maximum portability, write it in C.
If you want to get it working quickly, write it in Lisp. -John]
--

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