Re: Perl 5 Optimizing Compiler

[eyepopslikeamosquito]

Sorry but your proposed project comes across as a bit naive. Have you done some basic feasibility research of such a project? Note that perlcc was removed from the Perl core as at Perl 5.10. See also:

• What happened to perlcc? (2007)
• perlcc compile core dump (2010)
• Why Not Translate Perl to C? (2001, perl.com article by MJD)
• How can I convert Perl to C? (2009, stack overflow)
• Resurrected perlcc B-C by Reini Urban (CPAN)

BTW, a similar project for Python, Unladen Swallow, seems to have met with overwhelming difficulties.

[rgiskard]

I think most people would like to see perlcc revived. If it is as impossible as you are making it out to be, then I for one welcome a YAPC talk on the failed persuit of reviving the compiler. Perhaps the goal is too ambitious for the time allotted, but I don't see why that should halt side-projects.

[eyepopslikeamosquito]

I too would like to see perlcc revived and it appears that it is already being revived by Reini Urban on CPAN. What I think is way too ambitious, especially for the timeframe suggested, is the OP's stated performance goal of "making Perl run at speeds within an order of magnitude of optimized C".

[rgiskard]

Right, well I too feel that premature optimization is the route to all evil. I personally would find it hard to compete with native C; however, I do recall Java having similar speed issues (it being non-natively compiled). Then (over the course of a decade) everyone swapped out boxes for VMs... Virtual Machines which, perhaps inspired by slowness, happened to use the speed which a Java program runs as a common benchmark. So everyone started optimizing their VMs to run Java programs quickly. We are now at that point where Java can run as fast (or faster) than a "native" application (clearly depending on your environment and how you define native). I didn't know Reini was doing something like this... am checking it out now.