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RE: Using of parse tree externally
- To: "'gcc at gcc dot gnu dot org'" <gcc at gcc dot gnu dot org>
- Subject: RE: Using of parse tree externally
- From: "Dupont, Michael" <michael dot dupont at mciworldcom dot de>
- Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 13:05:41 -0000
Hello
All,
I have just read an
interesting article about Intentional Programming in the German computer
magazine IX.
It has relevance to
this discussion in a number of ways.
They
(Microsoft) are talking about taking the AST
of a program after the parsing and before the code generation, and
storing it as a
graph in a database. Of course the editing of a program is also very
visual.
This can be done
by indexing and storing the XML of the gcc external
representation.
This will have a
number of "Reductions" and "Enzymes" which can transform the tree to one more
fit for compiling.
This could be done
with XLST or JADE or even just Perl with DOM transformations on the
tree.
Then a code
generator will spit it out as object code.
This could be done
by rereading the AST and converting it to RTL.
Of course there is a
very visual editor for displaying these graphs in a Microsoft
Style,
Emacs springs to
mind......
This is all very
nice, and good, but it is covered by *four* patents by the very intelligent Mr.
Simonyi in the name of Microsoft.
My
questions are :
Do the Microsoft
patents prevent the use of the GCC ASTS in a similar way?
Could GNU produce a
similar free product?
Who would be sued by
Microsoft if so?
Does anyone
care?
Here is the
Microsoft home page for IP :
Here are links to
the patent office :
Part
1:
Part 2:
Part
3:
Part 4
:
Mike