Are there different programming languages that are compiled to the same intermediate language?

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From	Roger L Costello <costello@mitre.org>
Newsgroups	comp.compilers
Subject	Are there different programming languages that are compiled to the same intermediate language?
Date	Sun, 29 Jan 2023 15:49:14 +0000
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Hi Folks,

Programming_Language_1 has a compiler which generates Intermediate_Code_1.
Many backends are created for Intermediate_Code_1.

Time passes ....

Sally Smith creates Programming_Language_2. Sally wants to leverage the
compiler work done on Programming_Language_1. She considers two approaches:

1. Create a compiler front-end for Programming_Language_2 which compiles
instances to Intermediate_Code_1.
2. Create a translator which converts instances of Programming_Language_2 into
Programming_Language_1 instances.

Sally is concerned. She asks herself:

- With either approach, how do I prove that my mapping is correct?
- For approach 1, how do I prove that the Intermediate_Code_1 that I generate
is correct for my programming language?
- For approach 2, how do I prove that the instance of Programming_Language_1
that I generate is semantically equivalent to my Programming_Language_2
instance?"

What is the answer to Sally's questions?

/Roger
[I think the answer either way is that you don't, and you try to have a test
suite that is as comprehensive as possible. -John]

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