----- Original Message ----- From: "Luke Palmer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2003 2:22 AM Subject: Re: approaching python
> Klass-Jan Stol writes: > > > The thing is, I don't have a lot of experience when it comes to > > > compilers, but I do know a whole lot about python. :) If this > > > approach makes sense, is there someone with IMCC experience who'd > > > be willing to do some virtual pair programming with me and spike > > > out a prototype? > > > > > > > If I understood correctly, the codegenerator is isolated to one > > module, right? I don't know Python, and I've a little experience > > with IMC, but it seems to me only a new code generator module should > > be written. So, if for example the Python code generator (generating > > python byte code) has a method "gen_assignment(...)" for generating > > python byte code doing an assignment, then the new module method > > (generating IMC) should do the same, but with IMC instructions. As > > noted earlier, I've got no experience in Python whatsoever, but it > > seems to me it's just a matter of generating the right IMC > > instructions for each construct, so when walking the parse tree, > > calling "gen_imc_*" methods. > > Well... sortof. It's definitely going to take writing a whole new > code generator module; it's not just a matter of getting the right > instructions. Python's interpreter is stack-based, while Parrot's is > register-based, which are two very different kinds of data. > Oh sorry, that's actually what I meant, a complete new code generator module. My idea was to write the code generator as a tree traversal. So the source is parsed, and a parse tree is built, after which this tree can be traversed for code generation (maybe some type checking in between). > I think it would be good design to have the python binary parse for > us, but it's not likely practical. Python has eval, so unless we want > to link with python, we should probably write our own parser.[1] > I thought eval should be implemented as compiling during runtime? Parrot has instructions for that. > I know a little python, and it looks like writing a parser for it > should not be too difficult. > > > I'm no compiler guru (basic overview + a little experience + much > > interest :-), but I find the material very interesting and would > > gladly help. > > I'm pretty good at compilers, and helping out would certainly teach me > more python. So, I'm up for it. > > > Klaas-Jan > > Luke >
