Re: Ada to C translator for small microcontrollers

[Simon Wright <simon@pushface.org>]

Ludovic Brenta <ludovic@ludovic-brenta.org> writes:

> Niklas Holsti wrote on comp.lang.ada:
>> I think the realistic approach for an open-source implementation would 
>> be to take the existing GNAT front-end and try to generate C code from 
>> the intermediate representation, either the gcc IR or the llvm IR.
>
> That's a good thought. LLVM already comes with a C backend (i.e. a code
> generator that emits C rather than assembly).  I wonder how easy it would
> be to configure a toolchain based on the GNAT Ada front-end and this C
> back-end, bound together by LLVM's DragonEgg GCC plug-in.

Hmm, from [1], "The C backend has numerous problems and is not being
actively maintained. Depending on it for anything serious is not
advised."

[1] http://llvm.org/docs/ReleaseNotes.html#knownproblems