Re: Perl 5 Optimizing Compiler, Part 4: LLVM Backend?

[MonkOfAnotherSect]

Will,

You may be interested in reading up on the experiences of Unladen Swallow, which was the project which aimed to make Python "5x faster" using an LLVM backend, but ended up being abandoned (there were some good changes/additions made as a result, mind). There have been a fair few attempts at speeding up Python significantly, and many have been promising for a subset of the language, and less promising once implementing all the dynamic features come into play.

Incidently re previous thread's comment about RPython (used for PyPy) -- it's a subset of Python, and not a separate language per se. Development was thus able to be bootstrapped on CPython. The idea of attempting to use it to implement Perl -- 5 or 6 -- in full, with its separate semantic nuances and corner cases is courageous.

[Will_the_Chill]

MonkOfAnotherSect,

I am generally familiar with the Unladen Swallow saga, and what it revealed about LLVM being less-than-awesome for dynamic languages. Still, I think LLVM may be the best potential target for a Perl 5 optimizing compiler.

I am now leaning more toward LLVM than RPython simply because it will keep everything in Perl/C instead of introducing a non-Perl/C language into the mix. Still, I think RPython is awesome and I hope to learn from their relative success.

Thanks,
~ Will