Re: Algol Front end

[Tim Josling <tej at melbpc dot org dot au>]

More documentation on writing a front end would be good. Joachim
Nadler's thesis cannot be included in the GCC manual for copyright
reasons. It is also out of date now.

I am working on a COBOL front end for GCC.
http://cobolforgcc.sourceforge.net. Modern CPUs and GCC have some
trouble with COBOLisms like packed decimal.

I need a good sort/merge implementation for COBOL if you are after
something interesting but not too large. I definitely don't recommend
starting a new language yourself unless you have a lot of tree time.

By the way the sample language treelang is now part of the GCC source
tree (gcc3.2 experimental - the detault checkout, not the weekly
snapshot). The manual needs some work but the code works.

Helping with Fortran could be useful too.

Tim Josling

> Tony,
>
> A Fortran 95 project already exists, although it seems a bit moribund at the
> moment:
>
> http://g95.sourceforge.net/
>
> As for other languages, I would be most interested in Modula-2, given that I
> used that language extensively back in the 1980s. I know it had some
> popularity in certain circles, especially in Europe.
>
> PL/I continues to have its adherents; some guy has reimplemented some of the
> C++ and Fortran code on my web site in PL/I. I know it was popular in
> certain government and Russian sectors.
>
> COBOL is... well, COBOL. ;) I made lots of money in COBOL way back when... I
> don't know if anyone is really hot for a free compiler in a Unix
> environment.
>
> ..Scott
>
> Scott Robert Ladd
> Coyote Gulch Productions
> http://www.coyotegulch.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gcc-owner@gcc.gnu.org [mailto:gcc-owner@gcc.gnu.org]On Behalf Of
> Tony Stratton
> Sent: Monday, May 06, 2002 19:54
> To: gcc@gnu.org
> Subject: Algol Front End
>
>
> I am interested in doing a front end project for one of the following
> languages list on your project page.
>         Algol 60, Algol 68, PL/I, Cobol, Fortran 90, Delphi, Modula 2, Modula 3,
> RPG,
>
> I am leaning toward Algol 60 and/or 68, but I will not start before I hear
> from you.  If you can help me find a "definitive" reference on either Algol
> version, I can start.
>
> I can also work on documentation similar to the "TOY language" front-end
> tutorial.
>
> Please let me know if this is worth while for you.
>
> Thanks,
> Tony Stratton
>
>
>