C preprocessing
John Baldwin
johnb at srchtec.UUCP
Fri Sep 28 08:28:20 AEST 1990
In article <60134 at iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> bomgard at iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
(Tim Bomgardner) writes [in response to my posting]:
>
>Boy, give 'em lex and yacc and tell 'em about LALR(1) and they're ready
>for the big time. I've produced a compiler or two. I don't know about
>the "language designers" here, but my parsers have no difficulty at all
>with this sort of grammer. You wanna know what's hard? The parser I'm
>working on right now recognizes graphics.
>
Please remember (as I step into the flame-retardant suit), that not all
of us on the net are familiar with each other's proficiency levels
with respect to different aspects of computer science. I *said* I
was no compiler expert! (I've got "parts of a compiler" lying about
my den at home; right now it doesn't compile *anything*. Label me 'novice'.)
Your previous postings [that is, the subset I am familiar with]
would lead me to believe that you were very proficient in programming
in general, but might not have much/any exposure to compilers.
I hope you haven't taken my (original) comments as an affront.
They were never meant to be.
>}#2 Why can't the compiler "catch" the fact that what was meant (above)
>} isn't what was said?
>}
>}Because a compiler's job is to translate what was *said*. The only
>}analysis the compiler is required to perform is whatever is germane
>}to that task.
>
>Says you. In the case of C, I agree. But I'm not really talking about
>C anymore.
Yes, says me. In the case of C and other block-structured, procedurally-
oriented languages only. At least I *thought* that's what we were
originally talking about. :-}
>
>}#3 Wouldn't it be nice if the compiler would do what I meant, instead
>} of what I said?
>}
BTW, I'm toying with a language/concept I call DWIRM...
Do
What
I
Really
Meant! :-)
>Fortran gave us data abstraction. Block structured languages gave us
>control abstraction. What I'm looking for now I'll call structure
>abstraction. When I design something, I use little diagrams and pictures
>and sometimes raw C code as well. I then take all that and translate it
>into C. My goal is to have the computer do that for me. I really don't
>care about a nobel prize that much (my ideas aren't really that original),
>but I WILL be accepting VISA and Mastercard.
Now THAT sounds interesting. Do it right, and you WILL be accepting VISA
and MasterCard.
How about AMEX?
--
John T. Baldwin | "Pereant qui ante nos nostra dixerunt!"
Search Technology, Inc. | (A plague on those who said our good
johnb%srchtec.uucp at mathcs.emory.edu | things before we did!)
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