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

[Chad Joan]

On Saturday, 9 November 2013 at 21:45:30 UTC, Andrei Alexandrescu 
wrote:
> On 11/9/13 9:14 AM, nazriel wrote:
>> On Thursday, 18 July 2013 at 01:21:44 UTC, Chad Joan wrote:
>>> I'd like to present my vision for a new D compiler.  I call 
>>> it xdc, a
>>> loose abbreviation for "Cross D Compiler" (if confused, see
>>> ...
>>> Thank you for reading.
>>
>> I think C backend is a good idea.
>
> I think C is not a good back-end language. Other backend 
> generators usually have a white paper explaining why... 
> http://www.cminusminus.org/
>
> Andrei

What would you suggest as an alternative for targeting disparate 
hardware like microcontrollers (ALL of them), newly released game 
consoles, and legacy platforms that could use D for migration 
tools (like OpenVMS on IA64)?

Oh, and I want instantaneous release times.  I need to be able to 
stick the compiler on a machine it has NEVER seen and say, "Use 
POSIX libraries to fulfill Phobos' deps.  Use reference counting. 
  DO WORK!".  Or maybe I would say, "Ditch Phobos, we in da 
sticks.  Use reference counting.  GOGOGO!"  And I want to be 
running my D program 5 minutes later.

Let me initially dismiss these:
LLVM: not /everywhere/ yet, and missing on many of the targets I 
mentioned.
C--: also not everywhere; this is the first I've heard of it.
Java/Javascript/.NET: Actually also good backends, but a 
different ecosystems.

Thus, I suggest that C is an AWESOME backend (with C++ for 
exceptions, but ONLY if it's available).  Destroy :)