5 ms·

Meh: Compiler: collects sources from various places, assembles the result into machine code. Transpiler: collects sources from various places, converts the so

by mmjaa 9y ago

Meh: Compiler: collects sources from various places, assembles the result into machine code. Transpiler: collects sources from various places, converts the source to another language. Personally I cringe at the newspeak you seem to imply we should all be applying to our lives. These words mean things - quite different things, it turns out. There's a difference between human-readable source code language, and machine-executable binary code. These tools function in different ways entirely; your optimization to the language is not only un-warranted, but leads to a desultory effect: programmers get stupider when they don't know what their tools are actually doing.

cat199 9y ago
> newspeak you seem to imply we should all be applying to our lives. http://foldoc.org/transpiler http://foldoc.org/transpiler ^ no match. transpiler is the newspeak.
- mmjaa 9y ago
  foldoc.org is the product of a single individuals' construction of definitions of computing terms and is by no means a complete and authoritative source of technical terms. It says so right there on the site... However, this is a fun game, so lets play: http://www.yourdictionary.com/transpiler http://www.yourdictionary.com/transpiler https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/transpiler https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/transpiler https://www.thefreedictionary.com/transpiler https://www.thefreedictionary.com/transpiler https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-transpiler https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-transpiler
  - cat199 9y ago
    please feel free to attribute or posit another source w/r/t etymology within computing, I'm all ears. I doubt you'll find 'transpiler' at the origins of computing history; see also C++/cfront post
    - mmjaa 9y ago
      4 refs in my post, check it. You won't find "full stack development" in the roots of computing history either; language is malleable and useful. Get over it.
- cat199 9y ago
  The original C++ is probably the most famous 'transpiler' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cfront https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cfront http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/c_plus_plus/cfront/release_e/src/master.pdf http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/c_plus_plus/cfr... ohey, noone calls it a 'transpiler'. I'm not so angry about the word transpiler; perhaps it might improve things.. but to imply that using compiler as a common term for all things here is a regression/neologism is patently wrong - transpiler is the newcomer.
  - lowbloodsugar 9y ago
    But we called it lots of other things.
kazagistar 9y ago
I'm OK with using the word transpiler, but don't try to modify existing words. A compiler translates from language to language. If you want to say that the compilers whose target is a high level language should be called transpilers, that's ok, but that makes them a subset of compilers, not mutually exclusive.
city41 9y ago
A compiler converts code in one language to another language. That’s the literal definition. In the case of machine code, the “collection” step would be performed by the linker. gcc compiling some C and Babel compiling some JavaScript are both performing the same role. So much so the similarities in how they carry it out are striking.

by mmjaa 9y ago

cat199 9y ago

> newspeak you seem to imply we should all be applying to our lives. http://foldoc.org/transpiler http://foldoc.org/transpiler ^ no match. transpiler is the newspeak.

mmjaa 9y ago
foldoc.org is the product of a single individuals' construction of definitions of computing terms and is by no means a complete and authoritative source of technical terms. It says so right there on the site... However, this is a fun game, so lets play: http://www.yourdictionary.com/transpiler http://www.yourdictionary.com/transpiler https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/transpiler https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/transpiler https://www.thefreedictionary.com/transpiler https://www.thefreedictionary.com/transpiler https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-transpiler https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-transpiler
- cat199 9y ago
  please feel free to attribute or posit another source w/r/t etymology within computing, I'm all ears. I doubt you'll find 'transpiler' at the origins of computing history; see also C++/cfront post
  - mmjaa 9y ago
    4 refs in my post, check it. You won't find "full stack development" in the roots of computing history either; language is malleable and useful. Get over it.
cat199 9y ago
The original C++ is probably the most famous 'transpiler' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cfront https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cfront http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/c_plus_plus/cfront/release_e/src/master.pdf http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/c_plus_plus/cfr... ohey, noone calls it a 'transpiler'. I'm not so angry about the word transpiler; perhaps it might improve things.. but to imply that using compiler as a common term for all things here is a regression/neologism is patently wrong - transpiler is the newcomer.
- lowbloodsugar 9y ago
  But we called it lots of other things.

kazagistar 9y ago

I'm OK with using the word transpiler, but don't try to modify existing words. A compiler translates from language to language. If you want to say that the compilers whose target is a high level language should be called transpilers, that's ok, but that makes them a subset of compilers, not mutually exclusive.

city41 9y ago

A compiler converts code in one language to another language. That’s the literal definition. In the case of machine code, the “collection” step would be performed by the linker. gcc compiling some C and Babel compiling some JavaScript are both performing the same role. So much so the similarities in how they carry it out are striking.