ralph@CS.ARIZONA.EDU ("Ralph Griswold") (04/14/91)
Icon Compiler for UNIX Platforms As mentioned earlier, a preliminary release of the optimizing compiler for the Icon programming language is now available for UNIX platforms. This compiler generates stand-alone executable files unlike the Icon interpreter. The compilation process itself is slow compared with the interpreter, but the resulting executable files run much faster than interpreted ones. The Icon compiler produces C code, so you'll need a C compiler to use it. The preliminary release corresponds approximately to Version 7.6 of Icon and does not have all Version 8 features. Version 8 of the compiler will be released later. The compiler is available in two ways: in "object" packages for specific UNIX platforms and as source code. If you want to run the compiler and there's an object package for your platform, all you need to do is pick up the object package and install it, which is a comparatively simple process. If there's not an object package for your platform or if you are interested in the source code, you can get that and build your own compiler. Building the compiler takes quite a bit of machine time. It also requires about 6MB of disk space to build. At present there are object packages for the following UNIX platforms: DECstation 3100 running Ultrix HP 9000/300 running HP/UX HP 9000/800 running HP/UX Intel 386 running System V Iris 4D running IRIX Macintosh running A/UX NeXT running Mach PS/2 running AIX Sequent Symmetry running DYNIX Sun 3 Workstation running SunOS Sun 4 Workstation running SunOS UNIX PC (AT&T 3B1) VAX running 4.3 BSD VAX running Ultrix Implementations for other platforms will be added as they are completed. To get a copy of the Icon compiler, do an anonymous FTP to cs.arizona.edu. Then cd to /icon/v8/Compiler. There are three subdirectories, Docs, Packages, and Source. The subdirectory Docs contains PostScript for documents relating to the installation and use of the Icon compiler. The subdirectory Packages contains object packages in additional subdirectories, one for each presently supported platform. The subdirectory names identify the platforms. The subdirectory Source contains the source code for the Icon compiler. See the READ.ME files in the various directories for additional information. Please direct any questions to me, not icon-group. Ralph Griswold / Dept of Computer Science / Univ of Arizona / Tucson, AZ 85721 +1 602 621 6609 ralph@cs.arizona.edu uunet!arizona!ralph