ARM first & default LDC

[Timon Gehr]

On 19.12.20 18:15, claptrap wrote:
> 
> 2. People could just add it to LLVM if they want i think. Might even be 
> easier to write a whole new backend from scratch, i dont know. IE. Not 
> having DMD doesnt preclude the benefit that Walter claims DMD gives us.
> 

Building LLVM from scratch takes multiple hours. Building DMD from 
scratch (including backend) takes _seconds_.

Why is it so hard to believe that this is a benefit that an actual 
compiler developer might care for? It's exactly the prevalence of this 
kind of common sense pragmatics that makes D so convenient to use 
despite all flaws. You lose that if you start adding dependencies on 
projects that lack it.

Anyway, I think the solution is not to change the default development 
compiler, it's to get rid of that concept by improving separation of 
frontend and backends in the frontend development workflow so that it 
becomes equally convenient to develop frontend patches against every 
backend. (Though it may be possible to make the case that this would 
happen more quickly if LLVM or GCC were made the default backend, as 
it's plausible that the developers of LDC and GDC are more aware of what 
needs to be done in that department.)