This is the mail archive of the
gcc@gcc.gnu.org
mailing list for the GCC project.
Re: GCC Needs a backend cleanup and complete rewrite
Phil Edwards <pedwards@disaster.jaj.com> writes:
[...]
| 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.
That is irrelevent.
One only needs to have the bootstrap-start written in portable
C. The rest can be written in C++ -- there have been a widely known
compiler which did that. Actually, that would make it possible to
exercice the compiler itself -- that is one of the reasons why GNU C
front-end is much more reliable.
But rewriting the front-end in C++ doesn't automagically imply the
front-end will be well-structured or well-documented. It can be
worse.
-- Gaby
CodeSourcery, LLC http://www.codesourcery.com