[Cobolforgcc-devel] Re: GCC front end for COBOL

[Tim Josling]

Keisuke,

My objective is to get a working free cobol compiler. I think by joining 
up we may be able to get their faster. As you remember I was keen to 
join up before. You have done a lot of work very quickly, more than me.

Could you send me details of what your compiler does and does not 
support? That is, what features are present and what features are missing.

Also I will have a look at your compiler and verify if the structure is OK.

Could you give me your phone number and a time I can call you, in a few 
days time, so we can discuss all this?

By the way, I am visiting Japan in July... maybe we could get togther then.

One thing for you to consider: if you integrate into GCC, you will find 
that GCC integration takes a lot of ongoing effort. People change things 
that break your compiler. This will slow you down. I found that keeping 
up with GCC changes is taking most of my time, not adding features. In 
my opinion it would be best to target, say, gcc3.3 and then later on 
upgrade to a later release. This protects you to some extent.

All in all, it may be better to integrate later on, once your compiler 
is 'function complete'.

Regards,
Tim Josling

Keisuke Nishida wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> As I talked in the gcc list, I would like to write a COBOL front end
> for GCC.  I know there have been lots of discussion and efforts on
> this list, and I wonder if we could work together.
> 
> I would like to contribute my code to the COBOL for GCC project and
> join in if you are comfortable with that.  What do you think?
> 
> Thanks,
> Keisuke Nishida