Some comments on HLL/LLL from the peanut gallery

[Francois-Rene Rideau]

>   So, Tunes is more like the system software found on the old 8 bit Atari's,
> Commodore 64s and Apple ][s in that the language (BASIC in this case) is the
> OS.  Or the Xerox Star with Smalltalk.  And many Forth based systems are
> like this as well.
   Yup.


>   Well, I don't see systems around like that anymore, maybe because they're
> not practical, but on the other hand, it might be that it might be time for
> such systems to make a come back.
   That's because the current trend is to create a gap between users and
programmers. Sure, most users don't want to become programming experts,
but each person's particular needs means that either we have fine-grained
programming allowed to all, in which case anyone can have some nearby
computer proficient customize one's installation, or we have bloated
software whose authors have to put all the possible cases in.


>   But I would suggest you drop any notions of being able to evolve any code
> you write the HLL in into HLL.
   This is some another point. Currently, we try to have some HLL subset
working and write the compiler in it.


>   Okay, so at this point I'll apply my same argument:  Who cares what the
> LLL is?
   Us, the implementers.

>   Another suggestion, check out Java.  It may not meet the requirements for
> the HLL, but as far as the LLL goes, it's already a bytecode system where
> Java binaries can run, unmodified, on multiple systems.
   Java is no innovation in that. Do you suggest we use the Java VM as
our LLL ?


>  I'm sorry, but I
> still don't buy the "All singing, all dancing" language.
   The HLL won't be such a language.
Rather, it will be a language construction kit,
so you can adapt the language to your needs
(with pre-constructed languages available,
perhaps even standard languages if there is a need).
Reflective languages like FORTH and Scheme already do
things like that, but on these systems, syntax and implementation
both are not customizable enough.


>   Besides, what happens to my rather large base of C code?
   The HLL programming frame should eventually allow to manipulate C code too,
though most (not all) of existing C programs are not worth much.

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