Xref: utzoo comp.arch:6485 comp.lang.c:13148 comp.lang.misc:1959 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcvax!ukc!eagle.ukc.ac.uk!icdoc!ist!itcp From: itcp@ist.CO.UK (News reading a/c for itcp) Newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.misc Subject: Re: Machine-independent intermediate languages Message-ID: <358@istop.ist.CO.UK> Date: 4 Oct 88 08:24:32 GMT References: Organization: Imperial Software Technology, London, UK Lines: 32 From article , by eric@snark.UUCP (Eric S. Raymond): > 2) Are the portability goals for which MIILs are designed achievable > at all, given the diversity of today's architectures? > > 3) If the answer to 2 is 'yes', *can those goals be achieved with > lower complexity and cost than an HLL compiler?* > > The whole debate so far has been about 2). I am trying to suggest that the > critical question is actually 3), that the answer to 3) appears to be 'no', > and that the notion of MIIL is therefore fundamentally rather pointless, > because it distracts us from the *important* questions about designing > portability into HLLs. There are two independent goals for a MIIL, the original one that started this discussion, namely a `single universal distribution medium' that didn't entail giving away source. As this was being discussed in what is essentially a UNIX environment the assumption was that to all intents and purposes the MIIL only had to serve for C programs. Here compiler costs are not really a consideration - but I feel it remains to be shown that obfuscated C source could not serve this purpose. I have another interest in MIIL and that is as a Language independent intermediate code to promote the design and disemination of new programming languages. Clearly it would be acceptable for the MILL implementation cost to exceed the cost of a single HLL compiler, so long as it was cheaper than two HLL compilers. If it were more expensive than that I would seriously doubt its reliability and maintainability. [Usual disclaimer: this represents only my hastily assembled opinion and spelling, and not necessarily anyonelse's] Tom (itcp@uk.co.ist)