The Burning Questions

[Tanton Gibbs]

>>There are going to be heaps of questions that need to be answered at
>some point, so I've tried to wrack my brain trying to think of them to
>get them out in the open.  Many are like religious issues, some are
>arbitrary and some probably have clear cut answers.  But which is which?
>Anyway, here goes:

>>* The Compiler
>>
>>What will be the target platforms:  JVM, Our own VM, Win32, Mac, Unix,
>Output To C, Something else?
    I'm afraid to say the JVM because of much of the legal battles/copyright
up in the air quality of Java not to mention that Java is still not the
fastest language to be executed, although it is gaining on compiled
programs.  I think we should output either to C or to Unix.  The reason not
Win32 is that because most people who do development and would need an
experimental compiler do so at a university that usually uses Unix or VMS.
Win32 is not used a lot for expiramental research on language/compiler
design
>>
>>What will be the uncompiled source distribution format?
  I don't quite understand what you are asking here.
>>
>>What will be the compiled module distribution format?
  See above
>>
>>What tools shall we write?
  As few as possible.  We should rely on previously written tools like Flex
and Bison if at all possible.
>>
>>Do we support static library binding, dynamic library binding, or both?
  We have to support both if this is going to be something that people are
going to use.
>>
>>What optimisations can we do?
  I think we'll have to know more about the structure of the language and
intermediate code before we start categorizing these.
>>
>>What will be the general structure of the compiler?
  Boy, this one is vague :)  I'm sure the standard front-end -> back-end
both using symbol-table will be the general structure.
>>
>>What compilation techniques shall we use?
  Another vague one...I think we'll have to know more about the language
before we can say for sure.
>>
>>* The Language
>>
>>What facilties should be in the library?  Bear in mind that since we
>are an open source project, we will let anybody include the code in
>their compiler.  Hence, one reason against large libraries (the need to
>write them) is gone.
>>
  We have to have a standard string class, I/O classes, OS classes,
Container classes, memory management if not garbage collected, general
search and sort, and math...that, naturally, is minimal.
>>How much and what syntactic sugars should we use?
  Enough, but not too much...how's that for a vague answer!
>>
>>Too many other things to list here ...
>>
>>* The Project
>>
>>What sort of mechanisms will be used with code trees, and how will they
>be regulated?
  We need to know more about what features will be intrinsic in the trees
and which will be broken down into smaller sub-features.
>>
>>Will there be any standard distribution?
  There should be a standard distribution in order to control "feature
creep".  We should have control over any new feature that makes its way into
our compiler.
>>
>>Will there be voting on issues as to the direction of the project.  If
>so, will they be binding on the standard distribution, and who can vote?
>>
  Voting members should have the final decision on the standard distribution
and should be a group of N picked from the project members where N >= 10.
>>How will the project be structured?
  Beats me...
>>
>>In what order should things be attempted?
  See above
>>
>>How do we attract more members?
  See above :)
>>
>>How can we be more accessible to members?
  See above :)
>>
>>What license should we place our code under?
  I don't like the GNU license because it is often too prohibitive about
paying for such and such and so forth.  I believe that we should postpone
making any obligations until we have a final product and can evaluate its
worth.
>>
>>--
>>     Matthew Tuck - Software Developer & All-Round Nice Guy
>>                              ***
>>       Check out the Ultra programming language project!
>>              http://www.box.net.au/~matty/ultra/
>>
>>
>
>
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