[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > > Compiling the compiler into the runtime? Compilers can be small..
> >
> > Even if it has to be smart enough to compile REBOL?
>
> IF Rebol would be properly modularized, e.g. much earlier discussion about one and
>only
> /Core.exe, others as loadable components, or just ability to 'package appropriate
>components into
> one .exe, even compiler could be separate component, no?
You can't know what the input to compile will be, so you'll have
to include everything.
> > Would that really be faster than the current interpreter? Just a
> > bit, I think. Is that worth the effort?
>
> Huh, just only a bit?
Yup. The compiler doesn't know that IF means if, does it?
> > But then again you need the compiler in the runtime; I have dubts
> > that such a "REBOL compiler" could be dramatically faster than the
> > current interpreter. If you, instead, express the speed critical
> > parts with an ad hoc designed compilable dialect, and then compile
> > those, you get a dramatic speed improvement with just a little
> > effort.
>
> sounds interesting, is it achievable? What would such "dialect" look like, what
>exactly should be
> its purpose? Could you explain a little bit, please?
Imagine you have the ability to MAKE NATIVE! passing a binary
containing the (relocatable) machine code. You can easily write a
compiler in REBOL that takes some language (even C) and translates
it to machine code. Something like:
my-native: make native! compile {
for (int i=1; i<=10; i++) {
sum += i;
}
}
(Let's ignore argument passing etc.). Or you could use a REBOL
dialect:
my-native: make native! compile [start [integer!] end [integer!]
/local sum [integer!]] [
for i 1 10 1 [
sum += i
]
return sum
]
For platform independency, you'd need to compile to some form of
bytecode.
Also, the compiler could be native in REBOL, so you'd be able to
write:
my-native: make native! [...] [...]
etc.
Regards,
Gabriele.
--
Gabriele Santilli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - Amigan - REBOL programmer
Amiga Group Italia sez. L'Aquila -- http://www.amyresource.it/AGI/
