TITLE¶
Language::INTERCAL::Bytecode - intermediate language
DESCRIPTION¶
The CLC-INTERCAL compiler works by producing bytecode from the program source;
this bytecode can be interpreted to execute the program immediately;
alternatively, a backend can produce something else from the bytecode, for
example C or Perl source code which can then be compiled to your computer's
native object format.
The compiler itself is just some more bytecode. Thus, to produce the compiler
you need a compiler compiler, and to produce that you need a compiler compiler
compiler; to produce the latter you would need a compiler compiler compiler
compiler, and so on to infinity. To simplify the programmer's life (eh?), the
compiler compiler is able to compile itself, and is therefore identical to the
compiler compiler compiler (etcetera).
The programmer can start the process because a pre-compiled compiler compiler,
in the form of bytecode, is provided with the CLC-INTERCAL distribution; this
compiler compiler then is able to compile all other compilers, as well as to
rebuild itself if need be.
See the online manual or the HTML documentation included with the distribution
for more information about this.
SEE ALSO¶
A qualified psychiatrist
AUTHOR¶
Claudio Calvelli - intercal (whirlpool) sdf.lonestar.org (Please include the
word INTERLEAVING in the subject when emailing that address, or the email may
be ignored)