[net.lang.c] Translation Systems??

bcase@uiucdcs.CS.UIUC.EDU (10/11/85)

[]

Has anyone heard anything (good or bad) about a company in Waltham MA
called Translation Systems?  They are a compiler company, and they make
rather aggressive claims about their technology.  Any info helpful.

    bcase

gershon@ccicpg.UUCP ( Gershon Shamay) (10/28/85)

  Translation Systems is indeed a software house in Waltham. Quite small
(about 10 people currently). They have a set of compilers based on
a nice idea: separate front-ends generate common intermediate code.
A global (presumably good) optimizer works on this code and produces
optimized stuff. Then, a machine-specific code generator does the rest.
  The set of languages include full PL/1, subset G of PL/1, C, F77,
Basic, RPG-II, Pascal and Cobol.
  Almost all the stuff is written in PL/1 and the first step in porting
to a new machine is to re-host the PL/1 itself.
  Some of their stuff (or derivatives thereof) run on a number of machines,
including Stratus.


{rlgvax, ccice5, peregrine, ulysses}!ccicpg!gershon
					CCI-CPG
				Home of the Power 6/32 super-mini

rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (10/31/85)

>   Translation Systems is indeed a software house in Waltham. Quite small
> (about 10 people currently). They have a set of compilers based on
> a nice idea: separate front-ends generate common intermediate code.
> A global (presumably good) optimizer works on this code and produces
> optimized stuff. Then, a machine-specific code generator does the rest.

The "nice idea" is generally referred to as UNCOL, meaning UNiversal
Compiler-Oriented Language.  The idea, by that particular name, is at least
25 years old.  The problems with it are not quite as well known as the
advantages that are obvious at first glance, but they are there.
-- 
Dick Dunn	{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd		(303)444-5710 x3086
   ...At last it's the real thing...or close enough to pretend.

nazgul@apollo.uucp (Kee Hinckley) (11/07/85)

In article <187@opus.UUCP> rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) writes:
> >   Translation Systems is indeed a software house in Waltham. Quite small
> > (about 10 people currently). They have a set of compilers based on
> > a nice idea: separate front-ends generate common intermediate code.
> > A global (presumably good) optimizer works on this code and produces
> > optimized stuff. Then, a machine-specific code generator does the rest.
> 
> The "nice idea" is generally referred to as UNCOL, meaning UNiversal
> Compiler-Oriented Language.  The idea, by that particular name, is at least
> 25 years old.  The problems with it are not quite as well known as the
> advantages that are obvious at first glance, but they are there.
> -- 
> Dick Dunn	{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd		(303)444-5710 x3086
>    ...At last it's the real thing...or close enough to pretend.



A bit of trivia here:

	"It is also tempting to compile several different languages into the
same intermediate languauge and use a common back end for the different front
ends, thereby obtaining several compilers for one machine.  However, because
of subtle differences in the viewpoints of different languages, there has been
only limited success in this direction."

			Compilers, principles, techniques, and tools.
			Aho, Sethi and Ullman
			C. 1986 Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc.
			p. 20

I believe the translater in question also has to be hand-customized for each
machine, and there is a charge per line translated from then on.


				Kee Hinckley	
				...decvax!wanginst!apollo!nazgul

P.S.  Yes, that is the new Dragon Book, now available at your local bookstore.
--

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        side by side in the armory sat.
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        Till somebody came and opened the door
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        the Codrogen Cat and the Hybalt Dog.
        They mushroomed up with a terrible roar,
        and nobody, never, was there no more.
        
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