[mod.compilers] portable code generator needed

johnl@ima.UUCP (01/16/87)

can anyone out there tell me if i can find a code generator (public domain or
commercially available) that satisfies the following conditions:

   generates code for a number of machines, including some subset of M68000,
   IBM RT (ROMP), VAX, 80x86, or IBM 370.

   new code generators are fairly easy to add (ie, 6 man months).

   has a well-defined file-format interface (so i can pipe the output of my
   front end to it).

   runs under 4.2 unix.

i am working in a group producing a compiler for a new very-high-level language
called NIL (nothing to do with the LISP dialect).  our hope is to provide a
compiler that can be easily retargeted and that will run on most of the major
unix engines.  we haven't the manpower (nor the desire to reinvent the wheel)
and would like to take a code generator "off-the-shelf".

any hints or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

david bacon
dfb@ibm.com

ps: the normal disclaimers that us corporate citizens have to make apply: no
one should construe this as a promise to deliver any sort of product, service,
etc.  sigh... life was simpler at the university.
[There's always PCC.  -John]

johnl@ima.UUCP (01/20/87)

Cc:


In article <447@ima.UUCP> you write:
>can anyone out there tell me if i can find a code generator (public domain or
>commercially available) that satisfies the following conditions ...

The Amsterdam Compiler Kit (ACK), currently available through Unipress Software,
fills this bill nicely. It has code generators for vax, ibm pc (8086), pdp11
and 6800, and I think 68000, using a well defined stack based pseudo code.

From what I know about it, the 6 man months given in the request is about what
it would take to write a code generator for a new machine.
-- 
Arnold Robbins
CSNET:	arnold@emory	BITNET:	arnold@emoryu1
ARPA:	arnold%emory.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
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