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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 05/27/2017 07:59 AM, Paul Robinson
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:2107030377.1119921.1495861152873@mail.yahoo.com">
<div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff;
font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande,
sans-serif;font-size:16px">
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_161913" dir="ltr">Graeme
Geldenhuys asked in <span title="fpc-other Digest, Vol 108,
Issue 27" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_164072"
title-off="">Vol 108, Issue 27, "What makes a compiler
project special?"</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_167937"><span
title="fpc-other Digest, Vol 108, Issue 27"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_164072" title-off=""><br>
</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_164235"><span
title="fpc-other Digest, Vol 108, Issue 27"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_164072" title-off="">Well,
I'm not a member of the FPC but I've worked on several
compilers and I'll throw in my 0.02 Euro into the
discussion.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_164261"><span
title="fpc-other Digest, Vol 108, Issue 27"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_164072" title-off=""><br>
</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_167948"><span
title="fpc-other Digest, Vol 108, Issue 27"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_167960" title-off="">></span>
Since Florian mentioned that a compiler project is "rocket
science" [not his <br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_168610">>
direct words, but he hinted at that] and totally different to
any other software <br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_168750">>
project... It has really bugged me... Why is it different, and
What is different?</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_168886"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_168912">I'm
going to have to disagree here, and it may simply display my
own ignorance of the subject, but, then again, even a stopped
clock is right twice a day.</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_169027"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_169143">A
compiler is a "language processor," an application that
converts code in one language into something else. If it's a
translating compiler it converts it to another language. If
it's a language compiler it converts it to binary code or
potentially to assembly language. (I'm making a bit of a
distinction in that a compiler that translates to assembly
code isn't a "translator" because it is using the assembler to
save some of the work in not "reinventing the wheel" and not
having to create its own object file writer, and because
compilers generating assembly are usually creating a finished
output requiring no manual intervention. Most translators that
change source from one (high level) language to another
produce results that often require manual correction. Few
translators produce "perfect" high-level to high-level
conversions without some work. They'll do the "heavy lifting"
but often minor "tweaks" or checking is required by the
person.) <br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_169144"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495833591760_169028">At
its core, a language processor is a text processing
application. It takes a fixed combination of rules on what the
programmer can and must "say" in order to specify the
particular actions they want a program to accomplish. Given
these rules, which are called "grammars" the programmer
describes the program and the compiler takes that description
and turns it into the target representation of that
description.<br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
Well, a mathematician is also a text processor, therefore
mathematics is simple, right? :)<br>
<br>
Nikolay<br>
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