Re: Reconsidering gcjx

[fche at redhat dot com (Frank Ch. Eigler)]

"Kaveh R. Ghazi" <ghazi@caipclassic.rutgers.edu> writes:

> [...] IMHO, writing your frontend in the same language it's intended
> to compile causes it to be marginalized.  It no longer becomes part
> of the default bootstrap sequence and gets much less testing.  [..]

Even if so, it may be worth spelling out some of the obvious benefits
of writing a compiler in its own language:

- genuine bootstrapping capability (to compile itself, being a source
  of realistic test coverage)

- supplies "virtuous circle" motivation for improvement (speed,
  quality, ...), since it itself directly benefits

- providing a concrete, educational systems application of the
  language (rather than saying "language X would be great for writing
  compilers, but by the way here is an X compiler written in Y.)


- FChE