xdc: A hypothetical D cross-compiler and AST manipulation tool.

[deadalnix]

On Saturday, 20 July 2013 at 04:44:38 UTC, Chad Joan wrote:
> On Saturday, 20 July 2013 at 04:38:20 UTC, cal wrote:
>> On Thursday, 18 July 2013 at 03:26:10 UTC, Chad Joan wrote:
>> [...]
>>
>> Is the input to xdc a semantically-analyzed D AST, or does 
>> semantic analysis occur during pattern-matching/lowering?
>
> The latter.
>
> xdc would accept D code as text input (.d files) and parse it 
> to produce its own AST.  Semantic analysis is then done by 
> matching patterns in the AST and doing substitutions until all 
> that's left are the AST nodes the backend wants.  The backend 
> then matches patterns and emits the desired output (instead of 
> substituting AST nodes).

I'm not sure how you'll handle all compile time features.