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Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers

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jgk@panix.com (Joe keane) writes:

> Volker Birk <bumens@dingens.org> writes:
>>If you want to compile a programming language to assembler code
>
> I'm not sure why anyone would want to do this; if you have another
> language you can convert it to C code, and concentrate on what you are
> doing.  If you find that the C->assembly step can be improved that is
> also useful.

C is not always well suited as a target language for a compiler (even
though it is often used for this purpose).  For example:

 - Standard C does not support indirect jumps.

 - Few C compilers support tail-call optimisation.

 - C does not support multiple return values from a function call.

 - Exceptions are not supported and are difficult to implement
   efficiently and portably.

 - Finding the root set for tracing garbage collectors is not easy.

 - Multi-word integer arithmetic is not supported, even though hardware
   often does.

 - A lot of C behaviour is defined as implementation dependent, so you
   can not be sure your code works the same on all machines/compilers.

So there can be plenty of reasons to compile all the way to assembly
code.  Or use something like LLVM as target.

	Torben

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Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers amit karmakar <amit.codename13@gmail.com> - 2011-08-06 10:28 -0700
  Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers Volker Birk <bumens@dingens.org> - 2011-08-06 19:08 +0000
    Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers jgk@panix.com (Joe keane) - 2011-08-27 15:30 +0000
      Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2011-08-31 10:41 -0700
        Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-01 03:37 -0700
        Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers George Neuner <gneuner2@comcast.net> - 2011-08-31 21:01 -0400
          Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers Philip Herron <redbrain@gcc.gnu.org> - 2011-09-03 06:43 +0100
            Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers "C. Bergström" <cbergstrom@pathscale.com> - 2011-09-03 15:38 +0700
            Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers George Neuner <gneuner2@comcast.net> - 2011-09-03 16:00 -0400
      Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers torbenm@diku.dk (Torben Ægidius Mogensen) - 2011-08-31 11:15 +0200
      Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers Volker Birk <bumens@dingens.org> - 2011-08-31 10:02 +0000
  Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2011-08-06 14:10 -0700
  Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-08-09 12:06 +0100
  Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers Gene <gene.ressler@gmail.com> - 2011-08-10 00:53 -0700
  Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers Hans Aberg <haberg-news@telia.com> - 2011-08-10 23:56 +0200
  Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers tm <thomas.mertes@gmx.at> - 2011-08-30 23:17 -0700
  Re: Need an interesting topic for an undergraduate project on Compilers Christophe de Dinechin <christophe.de.dinechin@gmail.com> - 2011-09-04 23:42 -0700

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