Is there an existing D compiler for MacOS X? Or one in progress?   How exactly does the gcc-frontend work? Would it be possible for that to work with the Apple's modified gcc?

eluusive@NOMAPSsbcglobal.net wrote:
> Is there an existing D compiler for MacOS X?

No...

> Or one in progress?

Not really: the awareness of D is too low and there are too few people working on the GCC frontend.

> How exactly does the gcc-frontend work?

It doesn't. There's a DM frontend source, and there's a GCC backend source, and in between is a black hole...
A "mid-" something... - you can't call it an "-end" any longer :) - needs to be written, connecting the both. In theory, this should be not exactly impossible, because "GCC backend interface is clearly biased towards the C language with some flexibility provisions for C++" and the same applies to DM backend. In fact, D contains few features which are hard to express in C.
When you finally compile it, you get a compiler which doesn't need GCC itself, but will need a standard C library compiled with GCC, linker, librarian, and other tools from GCC.

> Would it be possible for that to work with the Apple's modified gcc?

I don't know anything about apple's modified GCC, but if at least 2 of the following GCC front-ends are known to work with it, D also should when it's ready:
 - GNU C++ compiler;
 - GNAT, the GNU ADA95 compiler;
 - OCaml Native Optimising Compiler;
 - FreePascal(FPK) or GNUPascal(GPK)...
 - Toy language :)

I assume apple's GCC should not be significantly more different from the UNIX GCC than our MingW compiler. :)

-i.

>> Would it be possible for that to work with the Apple's modified gcc?
>
>I don't know anything about apple's modified GCC, but if at least 2 of the following GCC front-ends are known to work with it, D also should when it's ready:
>  - GNU C++ compiler;
>  - GNAT, the GNU ADA95 compiler;
>  - OCaml Native Optimising Compiler;
>  - FreePascal(FPK) or GNUPascal(GPK)...
>  - Toy language :)
>
>I assume apple's GCC should not be significantly more different from the UNIX GCC than our MingW compiler. :)
As far as my knowlage goes apple's gcc is as standerd gnu gcc.
know , how would it work ? or what would it need in order to make it work ?

In article <b99fiv$pt9$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Anonn says...
>
>>> Would it be possible for that to work with the Apple's modified gcc?

>As far as my knowlage goes apple's gcc is as standerd gnu gcc.
>know , how would it work ? or what would it need in order to make it work ?
>

1. One has to port DMD to GCC by writing the GLUE layer between the DMD's frontend and the GCC's backend. Though Walter has made sure that DMD compiles with GCC, there might be hidden platform-dependancies, which are bugs. Thus it might be of use to have a PC to check out things, but i don't see why it can't be done on an Apple.

2. Probably the library needs to be adjusted - especially the GC. Borrowing Boehm might solve the problem temporarily.

3. Compile and expect to find new bugs. :)

If you want to help, you might start reading GCC backend tutorials and
documentation - you'll find a few links at:
http://www.OpenD.org

You can probably follow the tutorials on your Apple.

Besides, DMD source stays largely unannotated. You may read and try to understand it. Contribute here, if you find anything: http://www.prowiki.org/wiki4d/wiki.cgi?SourceGuide

I guess having a PC is not much help for this task either, as there's no backend to test-compile the frontend with with. Maybe Walter could release a DLL version of his backend, or DLI may be hacked?

-i.

>1. One has to port DMD to GCC by writing the GLUE layer between the DMD's frontend and the GCC's backend. Though Walter has made sure that DMD compiles with GCC, there might be hidden platform-dependancies, which are bugs. Thus it might be of use to have a PC to check out things, but i don't see why it can't be done on an Apple.
>
>2. Probably the library needs to be adjusted - especially the GC. Borrowing Boehm might solve the problem temporarily.
>
>3. Compile and expect to find new bugs. :)
As far as I know all or at least most open source app. (Unix,Linux) compile and
run on Mac X.
>
Thanks In addvanced