Re^2: {Perl6} Macros and native compilation

chip,
Given your recent acceptance of the Parrot design chief hat, this answer worries me a bit. The question being asked was along the lines of has any work been done towards native executables, to which the answer I believe is "yes" having followed the project for some time now. The answer you gave leads me to believe that it is no longer a goal to support native executables on popular platforms. On the other hand, you might have just meant that while it is an option, it is not a necessary one.

Can you please clarify?

Cheers - L~R

Comment on Re^2: {Perl6} Macros and native compilation

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Re^3: {Perl6} Macros and native compilation by chip (Curate) on Apr 11, 2005 at 14:27 UTC
Well, I don't want to discourage anyone from working on native code export if they have good reason to believe it's worthwhile. (This is not to be confused with the JIT, which is native code as an in-memory optimization.) But as far as I can tell, it isn't worthwhile. Some good use cases might change my mind, of course. BTW, for those of you who want to create packaged binaries: I suggest that the best route will be to package the parrot executable along with your pbc. -- Chip Salzenberg, Free-Floating Agent of Chaos	[reply]
Re^4: {Perl6} Macros and native compilation by Limbic~Region (Chancellor) on Apr 11, 2005 at 14:45 UTC
chip, I will paraphrase and summarize our recent IRC conversation for the benefit of others. Limbic~Region: Parrot currently has a command line option for native executables which I believe already works on a couple of platforms. Are you saying that this functionality isn't integral or necessary for the project? chip: Not exactly. It is unlikely a native executable will work without linking against a substantial part of Parrot. It is not something I see as being necessary but I certainly don't want to discourage anyone else from working on something they feel is important. Please correct me if my paraphrasing is misrepresenting your position in any way. I see your point and concede that I have apparently been under the wrong impression for over a year now. Cheers - L~R	[reply]
Re^5: {Perl6} Macros and native compilation by chip (Curate) on Apr 11, 2005 at 15:02 UTC
That's about right. Some effort has already been made in the direction of native-binary creation -- `make hello` in the current parrot source tree actually builds a "hello world" program from Parrot assembler -- and whatever contributions others continue to make will certainly be accepted. (Modulo quality, of course.) -- Chip Salzenberg, Free-Floating Agent of Chaos	[reply] [d/l]