[Aldor-l] Compiler development

[Ralf Hemmecke]

Hi Pippijn,

I'm happy that you are back. You are probably the most active aldor
developer. I'd like to do something, but unfortunately I really really
have no knowledge in compiler development.

> tonight, I have restarted my work on the compiler (I had no time for 
> it anymore and now I have forgot most of the things I knew back 
> then). I would like to verify the quality of the compiler by 
> splitting it up into subsystems and perform extensive regression 
> tests on each. By splitting them up, I also want to understand and 
> possibly document the internal working of these subsystems.

That would be really really great.

> Is anybody actually still developing Aldor

I wanted to improve the make system, but since you are now working on
this... I'll probably postpone this.

> or does anybody have a clue about the compiler internals?

There are probably several people around. But I guess, Peter Broadbery
and Stephen Watt are the ones with the most knowledge. Peter recently
answered some specific questions of mine about the aldor fricas
connection (see
http://groups.google.com/groups/profile?enc_user=s4Aq-BoAAAD4O05ngkOc1duH131iwdPIQpAYQ-1NAqDM0H5TLnE-zQ
). But usually he is too busy to answer.

> I'll have uploaded the code I have here to 
> svn://svn.xinutec.org/aldor/trunk.

Pippijn, would it be possible for you to use a new branch at
https://svn.origo.ethz.ch/algebraist?

See also
http://algebraist.origo.ethz.ch/wiki/parallel_development
for more information. Bill Page has setup that parallel development site 
and there is no problem in giving you write access to it. Just register.

> It does not include the changes I made before tonight. It does not
> include the make scripts either, since they are not
> license-compatible with the APLv2. (Would it be possible to use SVN
> external repositories and just let svn fetch the required files
> without those being license-compatible?)

I don't see a problem with that. In fact, I guess you could open up 
another directory on Algebraist that explicitly states your license 
conditions for your code and gets the appropriate sources at build time.
All that license stuff is a bit annoying, but if external svn 
repositories contribute to the development of the compiler, I am all for 
it. All I want to have is a compiler with fewer bugs. If that could be 
done with a build system under GPL or so that downloads the current 
aldor trunk at build time, I don't care. Of course, then there can be no 
binary distribution of the compiler since that would violate both the 
GPL and APL2.

BTW, are you aware of
http://www.risc.uni-linz.ac.at/about/conferences/summer2008/
and in particular of
http://axiom-wiki.newsynthesis.org/WorkShopRISC2008/ ?

Would be nice if you could make it to the workshop and let people know 
about your work.

Ralf