Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!decwrl!sgi!thant@horus.SGI.COM
From: thant@horus.SGI.COM (Thant Tessman)
Newsgroups: comp.sw.components
Subject: Re: using components
Summary: using multiple languages with RISC
Message-ID: <32787@sgi.SGI.COM>
Date: 15 May 89 19:03:58 GMT
References: <11401@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Sender: daemon@sgi.SGI.COM
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA
Lines: 25

In article <11401@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>, tada@athena.mit.edu (Michael Zehr) writes:
> 
[...]

> 
> Someone also mentioned being able to reuse components in different
> languages.  I agree that this is crucial in combining efficiency with
> productivity.  So far, my experience with mixed-language coding is
> that it is very easy on Vaxes (becuase of the forced procedure
> interface of the CALLS instruction) but extremely difficult on IBM
> mainframes (because there is no standard calling sequence).  Does
> anyone have any experience in mixed-language coding on newer RISC
> machines?  Do compiler witers stick to "standardized" calling
> mechanisms?
> 
> -michael j zehr

Silicon Graphics uses RISC processors from MIPS (first workstation to do so).
Fortran can call C and C can call Fortran.  (and C++, and Ada, and Pascal)
It's done all the time.  Our Graphics Library works that way.  Not only that,
but the Graphics Library uses a shared library mechanism which allows
executables to run on machines with different graphics hardware without
recompiling (again, first (and only?) workstation to do so).

thant@sgi.com "don't quote me, they're not paying me for that"