Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!snorkelwacker!mit-eddie!mit-amt!adamk
From: adamk@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Adam Kao)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk
Subject: How does the Smalltalk compiler work?
Message-ID: <1340@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU>
Date: 8 Jan 90 07:02:12 GMT
Reply-To: adamk@media-lab.media.mit.edu.UUCP (Adam Kao)
Organization: MIT Media Lab, Cambridge MA
Lines: 20

I'm trying to understand the Smalltalk compiler and Goldberg and
Robson are almost no help.  Is the Smalltalk compiler a traditional
compiler with a yaccable grammar?  If not, what steps does it go
through in translating source to bytecodes?  How do object-orientation
and message passing change the way expressions are parsed?

In a yacc grammar for C I would find separate rules for if-then,
while, etc.  I notice in the back of Goldberg and Robson there is only
one track diagram for blocks.  Where is the information on how to
generate code for control structures?

Basically I just need to know how the Smalltalk compiler is similar to
(for example) an ordinary C compiler, and how it is different.  I also
would like to know which differences are directly caused by object
oriented features (inheritance, etc.) and which are more incidental.

Please excuse my naive questions; I don't have access to a Smalltalk
system and learning from the book is frustrating.

Thank you for your time,
Adam