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Apr 4, 2011 at 19:44 vote accept Daniel Rikowski
Mar 28, 2011 at 10:11 comment added SK-logic @Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen, by definition compiler is translating from one language to another. The level of that target language does not matter anything. And no one sane will implement a full optimising compiler back-end for a DSL - it is better to reuse the existing one. Actually, most modern DSLs are compiled into C. As for assembler and linker - they've been always considered separate from compilation, since the very early days of the system programming.
Mar 28, 2011 at 9:53 comment added user1249 @SK-logic, so you compile to byte-codes for a virtual machine, not actual cpu instructions. Having a highly optimizing virtual machine can allow you to generate unoptimized code. I am not certain though, that I would consider that a full compiler, since you essentially skip the assembler and linking step.
Mar 28, 2011 at 9:49 comment added SK-logic @Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen, I am doing it for living. Nowdays you don't have to target any given CPU directly - since there are great VMs available, like LLVM, .NET, even JVM. And if you're not going to do too much of the expensive optimisations, even targeting a "real" CPU is not a big deal - see the OCaml compiler for an example of this primitivistic approach.
Mar 28, 2011 at 2:57 comment added user1249 @SK-logic, "Implementing a compiler and maintaining it is a tiny piece of work anyway". Have you tried? For what processor?
Mar 28, 2011 at 1:07 comment added SK-logic It is a lie. Writing a language does not add a complexity - normally it will reduce the complexity significantly. Implementing a compiler and maintaining it is a tiny piece of work anyway.
Mar 28, 2011 at 0:59 history made wiki Post Made Community Wiki
Mar 27, 2011 at 23:50 history migrated from stackoverflow.com (revisions)
Feb 9, 2009 at 18:41 comment added Jordan Parmer I do have to mention that in "The Pragmatic Programmer" that writing smaller, domain-specific languages to aid in a task is incredibly helpful and encouraged. I wouldn't recommend writing a full-fledged general purpose language, but a metalanguage that generates code can be helpful at times.
Feb 9, 2009 at 18:19 comment added Paul Nathan E.g., WoW uses XML & Lua for its scripting needs.
Feb 6, 2009 at 12:22 history answered Simucal CC BY-SA 2.5