So if I wanted to translate a Java application to C# (which ought to be pretty trivial, given the similarity,) what would I do about the libraries? Or the native interfaces?
It seems like a lot of the semantics of modern (read: industrial 60s/70s tech) programs really live in libraries written in lower modes of abstraction, over FFI interfaces, etc. I doubt it's as easy to translate this stuff as it is core application code (plumbing, usually, which usually delivers the various electronic effluvia between the libraries in use.) I wonder what the folks here might suggest? Is there a fifth corner in the room that I'm not turning? I'd really like to be able to look at a program in the language of my choosing... I just don't know how useful that is when I find out that #foo happens to use an FFI over to something written in assembler and running on an emulator. It sounds ridiculous, but I never run out of ridiculous in my way doing this stuff for a living:) I think about "rebuilding the world" in a way that keeps algorithms in a repo, a la Mathematica. Pure algorithms/functions, math really, seem to be easier in some cases to compose than classes/inheritance/etc (am I wrong? I could be wrong here.) I don't see a way to do anything like this without first burning the disk packs, which is a bummer, because if there was a really workable way to translate large applications, I know some folks with COBOL apps who might have interesting work for me (I'm a sucker for old systems. It's like digging up an odd ceramic pot in the back yard and wondering who left it there, when, why. Technological archeology and such. I'm also a sucker for shiny new technology like OMeta, so I picture gobs of fun.) Fortunately I have some of the best people in the world hard at work on burning my disk packs! Thanks VPRI:) Can't wait to dig into Frank and see what's there. Huge fan of HyperCard, so I'm really pleased to see the direction it's taking. On Apr 8, 2011, at 2:46 PM, Alan Kay <[email protected]> wrote: > It does that all the time. An easy way to do it is to make up a universal > semantics, perhaps in AST form, then write translators into and out of. > > Cheers, > > Alan > > From: Julian Leviston <[email protected]> > To: Fundamentals of New Computing <[email protected]> > Sent: Fri, April 8, 2011 7:24:28 AM > Subject: [fonc] Question about OMeta > > I have a question about OMeta. > > Could it be used in any way to efficiently translate programs between > languages? I've been thinking about this for a number of months now... and it > strikes me that it should be possible...? > > Julian. > _______________________________________________ > fonc mailing list > [email protected] > http://vpri.org/mailman/listinfo/fonc > _______________________________________________ > fonc mailing list > [email protected] > http://vpri.org/mailman/listinfo/fonc
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