Re: Play 20K expressions again, Sam

[att!cbnewse!cbnewsd!att-out!cbnewsl!willett@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (david.c]

>From article <1992Sep9.180517.20788@inmet.camb.inmet.com>, by arra@orb.camb.in
met.com (Arra Avakian):
> In article <1992Sep9.161353.5418@seas.gwu.edu> mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael
 Feldman) writes:
> 
>>A nice consequence of compiler houses writing their stuff in Ada is that
>>the developers really have to know Ada! I believe that will help them
>>better to understand the kinds of programs their customers will write.
>>...
> 
> Perhaps even more significant, if the developers bootstrap (compile their
> compiler using their compiler), then you know that their compiler has
> successfully compiled a fairly large and complex application program,
> increasing the liklihood YOUR program will compile and execute without proble
ms.
> (As has been mentioned here before, the ACVC does not serve this purpose!)
> 
> Real world test suites are critical to compiler quality, no matter the 
> language it compiles or the its implementation language.
> Boostrapping puts a real world test case in the hands of the compiler develop
er,
> with a very desirable impact on its quality.

The second paragraph isn't necessarily true.  While a compiler is clearly a
"large & complex" program, it is doing a simple, straightforward job.  It
may or may not use the features that you are trying to use.  I'll concede
that "bootstraping" is impressive, but not as much so as compiling a
varied suite of "typical" application programs.  Defining "typical" is 
what targets the compiler.  A vendor trying to service the avionics market
should put together a suite of "typical" avionics programs.  One going after
financial markets should use a suite of financial programs, etc.


-- 
Dave Willett          AT&T Federal Systems Advanced Technologies
attmail!dwillett      (AT&T FSAT)

A dog is a dog until he is facing you.  Then he is *MISTER* dog!