RE: Complicated AST manipulation looks ugly in C++. How to refactor it?
January 29, 2022 at 1:26 am
(This post was last modified: January 29, 2022 at 1:51 am by FlatAssembler.)
(January 27, 2022 at 2:16 pm)Jehanne Wrote:(January 27, 2022 at 8:36 am)FlatAssembler Wrote: C is not good at doing high-level stuff. C++ is good at both high-level and low-level stuff.
Isn't that the whole point of a compiler, to translate computer code into machine code?
No, that is what the assembler is doing. An assembler is translating computer code (assembly code) into machine code. A compiler is translating computer code into assembly code. A compiler does not have to deal with machine code at all, that is the assembler's job. By the way, I have also written an assembler, as a part of PicoBlaze Simulator in JavaScript.
(January 27, 2022 at 5:29 pm)HappySkeptic Wrote:(January 27, 2022 at 2:16 pm)Jehanne Wrote: Isn't that the whole point of a compiler, to translate computer code into machine code? I would ditch the C++ and just use C, modeling your new language on an existing one. C#, after all, "borrowed" heavily from Java.
Anyone writing complex code in C is crazy or a masochist. C++ at least has the standard template library (even if it is a pain to learn).
Using C++ allows Flat to potentially compile his compiler into any platform, including webassembly. Yes, that can be done with other languages, but it isn't easy with garbage-collected languages.
Why would C++ Standard Template Library be pain to learn? I used it on programming competitions back when I was 13 years old.
Yeah, my compiler can basically run anywhere there is a C++11 compiler, including FreeDOS. But it cannot really be used on FreeDOS because, well, the assembler it is targetting, `wat2wasm` from WebAssembly Binary Toolkit, cannot be run on FreeDOS. Or at least I have not managed to run it there. It would definitely need to be cross-compiled somehow since CMAKE, the build system WebAssembly Binary Toolkit is using, does not run on FreeDOS either.
(January 27, 2022 at 5:58 pm)Angrboda Wrote:(January 27, 2022 at 5:29 pm)HappySkeptic Wrote: Anyone writing complex code in C is crazy or a masochist. C++ at least has the standard template library (even if it is a pain to learn).
Using C++ allows Flat to potentially compile his compiler into any platform, including webassembly. Yes, that can be done with other languages, but it isn't easy with garbage-collected languages.
It's a matter of trade-offs. Hand-optimizing C is a lot more effective than trying to optimize object-based code. Time is money with compliers.
With modern computers, development time is far more expensive than the time the program takes to run.
