Re: On Compiler/Interpreter seperation

[Elian]

You're both right and wrong.

At the moment, the compilation and execution phases are separate. When we ship the final code, they'll be combined.

It was easiest to have them separate to begin with--we built a standalone assembler that could generate bytecode files that the interpreter can mmap in an directly exectute, which made it possible to get up and going quickly. The languages that have been implemented on Parrot so far have more or less gone that route (well, except for the ones that are true interpreters, like BASIC and Befunge) because, well, it's easiest. The compilers can be written in anything, and Parrot doesn't need to have a functional parser built in.

We're moving to an integrated system where the compiler and interpreter are together in the same executable--necessary for perl's eval, for example. It's more complex, though, so it's coming along slower. That's OK, since we have more than enough to keep us busy as it is. :)