Re: [QUERY] A "ignorant newbie" question about compiler-writing

synaptik <synaptik@why.net> wrote:
>My question is... what is it that makes compiler development so
>difficult? Forgive my ignorance, but I have always thought it would
>be a fun project, but then become disillusioned when I pick up a book
>on compiler theory and it doesn't appear "straight forward."


Do not underestimate the sheer volume of 'donkey-work' required
to cope with the multiplicity of types and operators, etc.
For example, in C, expressions can be evaluated in six different
types: int, unsigned int, long, unsigned long, float, and double.
This means that each operator needs to be written for each type
making a huge amount of work just to implement simple expressions.


--
Conor O'Neill, Aethos Communication Systems Ltd, Bristol, UK
--

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