On Sat, Mar 13, 2021 at 2:38 AM <bruce.axt...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Please forgive me if someone has already noted this, but yesterday I came > across another programming language which targets DOS and ultimately may be > able to be used to compile on DOS. Despite the odd name (COWGOL) is does seem > to be a totally serious, useful language. It can be found at > <http://cowlark.com/cowgol/index.html> and lists the following as things in > its favour:
Yet Another Programming Language. I haven't seen this one before. Added to my list, and thanks. > a properly type safe, modern language inspired by Ada > the compiler is written in itself and is fully bootstrapped > a table-driven, easy to port backend (the 80386 backend is 1.2kloc with no > other compiler changes needed) > tiny: the 80386 Linux compiler binary is 70kB (including ELF overhead) The > 8080 CP/M compiler 58kB (split across two executables) > fast: on my PC it’ll compile itself in 80ms. > global analysis: dead code removal and static variable allocation, leading to > small and efficient binaries It may have been inspired by Ada, but I suspect ancestry in Algol. An old friend with a PhD in Computer Science (who once worked for BB&N and helped build DARPANet) talked about an optimizing Algol compiler he encountered. It was self hosted, and written in Algol. You compiled the source, and got a slow compiler that generated slow code. You compiled the source again with that compiler, and got a slow compiler that generated fast code. Compile a third time with *that* compiler, and you got a fast compiler that generated fast code. I think the Ada inspiration was the basis for table-driven, with a compiler that separated from end analysis from back end code generation. That's pretty normal now, with GCC and LLVM both using the strategy. No recursion and no floating point will be blockers users need to keep in mind, but being able to build for 8bit micros like the 8080, Z-80, and 6502 is a definite plus.. Being able to host the compiler on those architectures is a laudable goal, but I think most folks will happily cross-compile on a PC, simply for speed. > Bruce. ______ Dennis _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
