From: cis.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!howland.
Subject: Re: verdix kisses off Ada
Date: 24 May 93 22:03:51 GMT [thread overview]
Message-ID: <1993May24.220351.22467@fcom.cc.utah.edu> (raw)
Michael Feldman (mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu) wrote:
: In article <9575@verdix.verdix.com> brucej@verdix.com (Bruce Jones) writes:
: >In article <1993May21.162150.20535@seas.gwu.edu> mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Mich
ael Feldman) writes:
: >>A dollar can only be spent once. If the resources aren't there to build big
ger
: >>Ada markets, how are they available to build C/C++ compilers?
: >
: >Mike, its not just a question of dollars, the reason is that the resources
: >are different. The resources needed to build a C/C++ compiler is a team
: >of highly skilled compiler engineers. Verdix has such a team. You can't
: >just go buy these people, you have to build the team slowly over time.
: Oh, that's certainly true. But each person-hour can be spent only once.
: Each hour invested in building a C or C++ compiler is one that's _not_
: spent developing Ada stuff whose performance and reliability is such that
: people who are spending their own money will buy it.
Each person-hour can only be spent once, but that one hour can be reused.
What I mean by this is that the same principles go into building a compiler
for both Ada and C++. (Other languages could also be included, but this
is a sufficiently large group to demonstrate my point.)
As demonstrated by the GNAT project, even if the frontend of a compiler is
written from scratch, the same backend(s) can be used. These backends
include code-generators, optimizers, and debuggers. All of DEC's compiled
languages on VAX/VMS use the same debugger. It is even rumored (because
I haven't had sufficient confirmation) that all of these languages use the
same code-generators and optimizers.
I've heard that since C++ has added exceptions, GNU (not the GNAT team) is
in the process of rewriting the C++ compiler backend to support this. The
work of the GNAT team may or may not be rolled back into the backend by
GNU. (I'd appreciate hearing about this from a well informed source. Is
the co-director of GNAT still listening?)
It takes skilled persons to write commercial compilers, but they don't have
to write code that is used for just one language/project. This is the point
of reuse.
Nevertheless, Verdix may end up selling their C++ compiler for a lower price
than their Ada compiler. It may be as simple (is anything in economics
simple :-) ?) as being able to spread the development costs over a larger
expected sales volume.
-=:[ VAL ]:=-
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next reply other threads:[~1993-05-24 22:03 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 33+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
1993-05-24 22:03 cis.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!howland. [this message]
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
1993-05-28 21:45 verdix kisses off Ada deccrl!news.crl.dec.com!dbased.nuo.dec.com!digits.enet.dec.com!brett
1993-05-28 19:20 David Emery
1993-05-28 16:36 agate!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu
1993-05-28 14:07 deccrl!news.crl.dec.com!dbased.nuo.dec.com!digits.enet.dec.com!brett
1993-05-28 6:41 VERDIX KISSES OFF ADA Robert Dewar
1993-05-27 21:47 verdix kisses off Ada agate!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!cs.utexas.edu!csc.ti.com!tilde.csc.ti.co
1993-05-26 23:51 VERDIX KISSES OFF ADA dog.ee.lbl.gov!overload.lbl.gov!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!darwin.sura.
1993-05-25 20:26 verdix kisses off Ada Richard Kenner
1993-05-25 15:31 Laurence VanDolsen
1993-05-25 2:26 Michael Feldman
1993-05-24 23:18 Greg Titus
1993-05-24 1:54 Verdix " Jonathan Schilling
1993-05-22 16:43 verdix " Michael Feldman
1993-05-22 0:46 agate!howland.reston.ans.net!noc.near.net!das-news.harvard.edu!ogicse!ver
1993-05-21 16:21 Michael Feldman
1993-05-21 14:19 Gregory Aharonian
1993-05-21 11:10 Verdix " news
1993-05-20 17:30 verdix " Robert Dewar
1993-05-20 13:48 arthur.j.northrup
1993-05-20 13:44 Robert Dewar
1993-05-20 13:41 Tucker Taft
1993-05-19 23:25 Val Kartchner
1993-05-19 2:40 Michael Feldman
1993-05-18 23:47 dog.ee.lbl.gov!overload.lbl.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!taurus.cs.nps.navy.mi
1993-05-18 17:56 dog.ee.lbl.gov!network.ucsd.edu!swrinde!emory!ogicse!verdix!sfz
1993-05-17 22:20 Verdix " Robert I. Eachus
1993-05-17 19:53 David Emery
1993-05-17 16:52 Robert Kitzberger
1993-05-17 2:02 news
1993-05-14 19:33 Bruce Jones
1993-05-14 11:01 Anders Thulin
1993-05-13 17:42 Gregory Aharonian
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