[fpc-devel] Re: fpc-devel Digest, Vol 112, Issue 32

[Steve Smith]

On 23/08/13 20:41, Sven Barth wrote:

>> Firstly, I am not necessarily proposing that we don't concentrate on
>> Linux initially, in fact it makes a certain amount of sense (In a
>> perverted way :)) My EXAMPLES concentrate on MVS because that's my
>> background.
>
> I don't see what would be perverted about that... it might at first restrict
> the potential user base, but it would only be a first step to allow
> implementing a more or less working code generator and that other OSes can
> be tackled.

It was intended as a joke, hence the smiley. A little, no tiny, joke... 
maybe. I'm afraid I have a dim view of Linux even though, or perhaps 
because, I am a long-time Linux user. Another joke... sort of!

>>> There's also the issue of the assembler reader (used, if I understand
>>> things correctly, to parse inline assembler mostly in the lower-level
 >>> bits of the RTL). This seems to cause almost as much problem during
 >>> development as the assembler writer, and having to support (or at
 >>> least pass through) complex assembler macros isn't going to make
 >>> things any easier.
>>
>> I don't really see why passing macro calls through to an external
>> assembler is any different than passing 'raw' code.  It's just text
>> isn't it?
>
> Writing assembler by hand is not necessarily the same as letting a compiler
> write assembler code. At least in FPC the assembly language of each
> processor is abstracted in operations which are hold in lists and using an
> assembler writer (of which there can be multiple to target different
> assemblers) this list is turned into the final file.

I'm aware of that, but I don't see how that makes a difference to how the 
compiler generated assembler is treated differently to the stuff inside a TP 
ASM block, inline assembler, or am I misunderstanding Mark's point.

>> "Here's some code, assemble it, and be quick about it johnny!"
>
> Was that a Short Circuit reference? O.o

Once again in English please. I just don't understand that last sentence at 
all. Sorry.

Regards,
Steve