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Re: GCC Needs a backend cleanup and complete rewrite
On Thu, Feb 22, 2001 at 05:53:33PM -0800, James Buchanan wrote:
>
> Nice little bombshell for ya. GCC is a bloody mess. Just where is one
> supposed to start in building a new front end is a pressing one, since even
> the scant documentation available doesn't really shed much light on the
> issue.
Nobody knows. The few people who have managed to figure it out voluntarily
had themselves committed to an asylum shortly after code checkin.
> Maybe an object-oriented, Standard C++ implemented GCC release 5 which is a
> complete rewrite is called for, with teams of volunteers coordinated by RMS
> for design, specs, coding, documentation, testing, debugging, API design,
> etc.
I would love to see this. Maybe not in C++, but along the same lines.
One of the many difficulties in changing the implementation language is that
FSF requires GCC to be buildable on just about any machine that ever worked,
even if it only has a K&R compiler from the previous century. (Okay, that
was a lame shot, sorry.) We cannot assume the existence of a bootstrapping
C++/whatever compiler the same way as we can assume a C compiler.
Pity.
Phil
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