Scripting C++ -- Boost.Python vs CORBA vs ???

[rasmussn at lanl.gov]

On Tuesday, February 26, 2002, at 10:20 AM, Craig Maloney wrote:

> Hi David.
>
> Since I'm not a "computer guy" per se, I was wondering if you could
> clear up some more of my confusion.  I don't know much about how
> compilers work, but I would presume that any compiler (eg g++) would
> create some internal representation, similar to the .cil file, after
> parsing but before compiling.

Parsing is just one phase of the entire process of compiling.  From Aho, 
Sethi,
and Ullman, the phases of a compiler are: lexical analysis, syntax 
analysis,
semantic analysis, intermediate code generation, code optimization, and
code generation.

> Presumably the EDG front end is geared toward producing this information
> in a format more suited to being used by the "wrapper generators" in 
> contrast
> with a compiler which produces this information only for itself and with
> the sole goal of compiling an object file?

I can't really speak for the EDG people, but I assume that the .cil files
(or equivalent information, stored in memory) are used as part of the
compilation process, although, it may not always be written to disk.

> What I'm getting at is that I'm confused as to why people wouldn't have
> used information from the compiler *itself* to automate the process of
> wrapper generation.  Obviously the compiler writer people would have to
> collaborate with the wrapper generator people... but there must be 
> technical
> obstacles?

We are using the compiler, but only the first three stages.

Craig