Path: utzoo!dciem!client2!gee
From: gee@client2.DRETOR.UUCP (Thomas Gee )
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Re: can we ever compile perl?
Message-ID: <3839@client2.DRETOR.UUCP>
Date: 14 Dec 90 21:19:26 GMT
References: <9592:Dec920:40:5190@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> <110306@convex.convex.com> <1990Dec12.064530.22356@cs.ubc.ca>
Organization: Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine
Lines: 31

In article <1990Dec12.064530.22356@cs.ubc.ca> pphillip@cs.ubc.ca (Peter Phillips) writes:
>In article <110306@convex.convex.com> tchrist@convex.COM (Tom Christiansen) writes:
>>In article <9592:Dec920:40:5190@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) writes:
>>>1. Compile some large subset of the language to portable C code.
>
>For some perl scripts, eval is indispensible.

A related point on perl compilation.  If I am correct, perl "compiles" the
input code to another internal representation, and interprets the result.  This
results in a significant pause at invocation before the program (ie perl script)
begins executing.

Would it be possible to save the internal representation to which the script
is translated and feed that directly into the interpretor?  I have at least
one system that uses a "vast" number of perl scripts which execute in 
sequence, and the overhead for the initial translation is noticeable and
non-trivial.

I believe this suggestion did come up in the last "where's my perl compiler"
flood, but was never addressed.

Thanks,
	Tom.


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Thomas Gee       |
Aerospace Group  | a man in search of a quote
DCIEM, DND       |
Canada           | gee@dretor.dciem.dnd.ca
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