[Info-vax] The (now lost) future of Alpha.

[invalid]

On 2018-08-02, Arne Vajhøj <arne at vajhoej.dk> wrote:
> On 8/1/2018 2:10 PM, invalid wrote:
>> On 2018-08-01, Arne Vajhøj <arne at vajhoej.dk> wrote:
>>> On 7/31/2018 4:47 AM, Johnny Billquist wrote:
>>>> On 2018-07-31 01:44, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>>>> On 7/30/2018 1:39 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>>>>> Isn't RATFOR a kind of compiler that reads RAT and emits
>>>>>> an intermediate language resembling Fortran?  :-)
>>>>>
>>>>> I assume it is joke.
>>>>>
>>>>> RAT stands for RATional.
>>>>>
>>>>> And it outputs valid Fortran.
>>>>
>>>> I don't see why you would think it's a joke.
>>>
>>> I assume it was a joke about "rat" also being a generaly
>>> despised animal.
>>>
>>>>                                             It's a very appropriate
>>>> description of the RATFOR compiler. It takes a language as input, and
>>>> outputs another as output, just like any compiler.
>>>
>>> Yes.
>>>
>>> But I don't think the input is RAT.
>>>
>>>>                                                And it's a compiler
>>>> written in FORTRAN.
>> 
>> No, it is not. It's a preprocessor written in PASCAL to add what K&R wanted
>> to FORTRAN.
>> 
>>> Which was the point. You can write a compiler in
>>>> FORTRAN, and RATFOR is an example of such a compiler.
>> 
>> Again, no. PL/M is an example of a compiler written in FORTRAN.
>> 
>>>> The fact that the intermediate language is FORTRAN is hardly making a
>>>> difference.
>>>
>>> I think the fact that it is Fortran and not something resembling Fortran
>>> is sort of relevant.
>> 
>> I agree with this and anyway, Ratfor is not a compiler. It's just a
>> preprocessor written for FORTRAN in PASCAL and then I think it got ported to
>> C. I think it's in K&R's Software Tools book.
>
> Pascal????
>
> Where did you get that idea from?

I thought it was in K&R's Software Tools. I don't have the book accessible
now so I can't verify.

>
> I looked it up.
>
> https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1171&context=cstech
>
> clearly states that RATFOR was written in RATFOR.

Thanks I will check it. Sorry if what I wrote was incorrect.

"Memory is the first thing to go, can't remember what the 2nd is..."