Re: Using Prolog to Compile Things

Nick Roberts <nickroberts@callnetuk.com> writes:
|> Has anyone on this ng experience or knowledge of the use of Prolog to
|> implement a native-code compiler for a typical high-level imperative
|> language? I am toying with the idea of using Prolog for the lexer, the
|> parser, the intermediate (library) code generator, and the end-code
|> generator (and even, in effect, for linking!), i.e. the 'whole shebang'.
|> I'm even toying with the idea of having (most) of the IDE written in Prolog,
|> and thus tightly integrating the compiler and IDE.


You can use GNU Prolog (http://pauillac.inria.fr/~diaz/gnu-prolog) to
both write your compiler(s) and to look at the Prolog compiler. Indeed
GNU Prolog produces stand alone native executables (useful to obtain a
command-line compiler) and its Prolog compiler is written in GNU
Prolog (bootstrapped). Another interesting point is that GNU Prolog
includes a powerful constraint solver over finite domains. Constraint
programming can help you when trying to optimize the code
(e.g. register allocation,...).


There is also a project at INRIA working on compilation using Prolog
in a part of the compilation scheme. You can ask
Christine.Eisenbeis@inria.fr.


--
===============================================
                                  Daniel Diaz
University of Paris 1 INRIA Rocquencourt
      75013 Paris 78153 Le Chesnay Cedex
          FRANCE FRANCE
                email: Daniel.Diaz@inria.fr

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