Re: issue: RPN, TAC+SSA, and x86-style ASM

In article <c05b0$47bfeebb$ca83b482$9782@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
 "cr88192" <cr88192@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> well, recently I came up with an idea, but it has turned into a bit of a

> mess on me...
> 
> I have an existing C compiler I wrote before, and it is organized about
like 
> this:
> Preprocessor;
> Parser;
> Upper Compiler, converts syntax trees to RPNIL;
> Lower Compiler, converts RPNIL to assembler;
> Assembler;
> Linker.
> 
> so, the upper-compiler ends up being fairly sparse, mostly being a
fairly 
> dumb converter.
> 
> the output, I call RPNIL, is a vaguely Forth or PostScript like language

> representing the intermediate version of the language.
> 
> [lots of info removed]
> 
> or, I can do the basic library (serving as a codegen), and possibly
later 
> write an SSA style frontend (and rework the upper compiler to target it 
> directly).
> 
> 
> anyone have any thoughts?...

Many people have thoughts, but I am not sure what you are looking for. 
What I miss in your description is what exactly you want to achieve. 
Possible answers could be:

- getting to learn how to write a 'real' compiler chain
- getting a better C compiler
- getting a faster C compiler
- fixing known code-generation problems in your existing code

I guess that, in all cases, you will want to look at 
<http://www.llvm.org/>
and <http://clang.llvm.org/>.
It might lead to 
one or more of:

- ideas about organizing your code
- ideas about using LLVM as your intermediate SSA language
- ideas about ditching your code, and start contributing to LLVM

Reinder