[Info-vax] And another one bites the dust....

[Dan Cross]

In article <620fc42f$0$701$14726298 at news.sunsite.dk>,
Arne Vajhøj  <arne at vajhoej.dk> wrote:
>On 2/18/2022 10:59 AM, Dan Cross wrote:
>>>> Not really. The old DEC GEM compilers were super cool.
>>>
>>> The cost.
>> 
>> Which cost?  Bolting on a backend for x86_64 wouldn't be that
>> hard: they already have backends for VAX, MIPS, Alpha, and
>> Itanium.
>
>????
>
>VSI is already doing that by utilizing LLVM.

...at the hidden cost of maintain two separate toolchains
for different architectures, and maintaining common code in
a least-common-denominator dialect of the language, at
least until they cut Alpha and Itanium loose completely.

>[snip]
>>> Maybe ARM or RISC-V some day in the future.
>> 
>> It seems clear that there's an architectural shift away
>> from x86 happening.  Best to lay the groundwork now to
>> avoid being caught out.
>
>Maybe, but even if it does happen then it will take many years.

Which is why they should get a jump on things now. :-)

	- Dan C.