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3) Go has turned out to be a nice general purpose language and the compiler won’t be an outsize influence on the language design. In what sort of ways does sel
by pohl 13y ago
3) Go has turned out to be a nice general purpose language and the compiler won’t be an outsize influence on the language design.
In what sort of ways does self-hosting early influence a language design? Were they hoping to avoid something in particular by delaying self-hosting?
- gizmo686 13y agoThe general way that self hosting influences language design is that the compiler is often one of the first major projects to be built using a language. This does not give it more influence then other major projects, but if your goal is to have a language designed for use case X, it is generally best to have your early projects with it be for X. Additionally, self hosting may encourage a language design that makes bootstrapping easier (such as a stricter divide between the state-1 language and the general language).
- steveklabnik 13y agoTo expand a bit on your last point, self-hosting helps answer the question "can I build Real Software (tm) with this language, or is it really difficult?" earlier in the lifetime of the language.
- pohl 13y agoI sort of had the general sense of that already. I guess I was hoping for something more specific about what language features are so useful when writing a compiler but get in the way for general problems. The part I quoted above almost sounds like wiping sweat from one's brow after having dodged a bullet: "phew, the language is safe from influence by those gull-durn compiler-writers..."