[net.lang.pascal] p-code questions

smg@burl.UUCP (GEDDIS) (07/01/85)

[did they ever fix the first-line bug?]
Before I say anything (while I still have your attention), please
note that I do not have access to the net, much less this newsgroup.
I have mailed this artical to a good friend who has posted it for
me (And I don't think she reads net.lang.pascal).  So please

		 *DON'T*

use your 'f'-key or your 'r'-key to reply to this artical, but reply
instead by replacing the "burl!smg" at the end of this artical's
path with "burl!bu-3b5!wjb".  Many thanks.

I recently bought what I thought was a Pascal compiler for my
Commodore-64 (Oxford Pascal, if you're interested), only to discover
that it "compiles" down to an intermediate language which it then
interpets.  The only hint of this was in an imprecise memory map in
the manual, which said "(p-code)" under the line "Executable Code"
in the block on the map.

The software shop I bought it from was going (is gone) out of
business (which is why the software was cheap enough to tempt me out
of my budget), so I can't take it back.  But all is not lost if I
can compile the intermediate code that the interpreter produces.

I am given to understand that some Pascals (like, UCSD Pascal?)
produce an intermediate code called p-code that is easily compiled
or interpreted.  The idea originally was to have any number of
high-level language compilers produce p-code, which was to be
standardized, so that only one compiler need be written for a given
processor (the p-code compiler) to immediately provide access to
that processor of all languages that produce p-code.

I am hoping that this is what I have here.  If I am right about
p-code being standardized, and if anybody on the net has access to
the standard, I would be tremendously appreciative if you would
either mail the standard to me, or tell me where I can get it.

adTHANKSvance


			--Bill Buie
-- 

Sharon Geddis -- 919-228-4913 (Cornet 291)
	     ...![ floyd sb1 mhuxv ]!burl!smg