stability

[Derek Parnell]

On Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:31:28 -0800, Walter Bright wrote:

> Leandro Lucarella wrote:
>> I think languages will well defined specifications are the only ones with
>> several compilers/interpreters.
> 
> C had over 30 independent implementations just for DOS before the C 
> standard ever came out.

And that was a good thing? Can't we do better?

>> That's why I think that putting the frontend in a public SCM is key for D,
>> and I think to have a complete opensource reference implementation will
>> be key too in the future.
> 
> The D front end is completely open source, and the front end is where 
> the semantics of the language are. 

But it is not 'open source' in the same sense as an open collaborative
development project similar to OpenOffice. The official source is open to
be read by any one but getting changes into the official source has a very
high barrier.

> Open sourcing the optimizer and 
> register allocator isn't going to clarify how the language works. As gdc 
> shows, the optimizer/backend is not necessary for building a compatible 
> implementation.
> 
> Before C++ was standardized, cfront was regarded as the 'reference 
> implementation', but it was closed source. That didn't stop at least a 
> dozen independent C++ compilers from being developed.

And they all developed different variants of C++ because there was no
implementation independent specification.

-- 
Derek Parnell
Melbourne, Australia
skype: derek.j.parnell