On Fri, 30 Jul 2010, Kevan Hashemi wrote:
Deasr Chief,
So that seals it for me.
I agree that a Pascal to C++ translater would be just fine. But on the other hand, that means that we need people who enjoy programming in both Pascal and C++ to support the project. Anyone who fits that description is not going to have much use for the product, because they might as well program in C++ in the first place.
The people who are dedicated to GPC are people who greatly prefer to program in Pascal. Most such people dislike programming in C++. So who is going to write this translator? Not me. Is Frank going to write it on his own?
It may be ten times as much work to re-write the compiler in Pascal, but we may find that we have a hundred times as much developer time available.
One way to proceed is for Frank to estimate how many developer hours are required for a Pascal compiler in Pascal, and for a Pascal to C++ translator, then we poll the list to see how many hours people are prepared to dedicate to each project. If only one of them gets enough hours, then we have only one practical solution.
The more I think about it, the clearer it is to me that the Pascal to C++ translator is the option discussed that I like the least. I actually would prefer a Pascal to Ada translator more than Pascal to C++, because if I had to abandon Pascal, I think I'd be much more comfortable programming in Ada than in C/C++ (I don't know enough about D to have an opinion). All things being equal (which they never are), a rewrite of GPC in Pascal is the option I like the best, followed by an effort to add full Extended Pascal/GPC language support to FPC (which has the advantage of already being written in Pascal).
Since I don't have any experience in compiler development, I don't know how useful I could be (except for maybe as a tester), but I think I could devote a couple of hours per Saturday to assist in a rewrite of GPC in Pascal, or on an FPC merger.
--------------------------| John L. Ries | Salford Systems | Phone: (619)543-8880 x107 | or (435)867-8885 | --------------------------|