Re: [asm] asm as a compiler?

[Jerry Boetje <jerryboetje@xxxxxxx>]

Ville,

I'm running a project to create a new implementation of Common Lisp  
running on the JVM. Our CL does not have an interpreter, preferring  
to compile every form other than the most simple. So we have an in- 
memory compiler that does double duty by being a file compiler as  
well. We use ASM as the end-stage of the emitter. We chose to use ASM  
because it's very light-weight, very fast, and it provides a good  
verification system - very handy when you're creating JVM bytecode.  
But you should remember that ASM isn't a compiler. It's a smart  
assembler. You have to figure out all of the byte codes to emit. It  
looks that you need a real Java compiler that runs in-memory.

  Jerry

On Nov 29, 2006, at 4:01 AM, Ville Oikarinen wrote:

> Hello.
>
> My question: Can asm be used (easily) as an in-memory compiler?
>
> Some background:
>
> I am developing a metalanguage, and I thought it would be nice to  
> be able
> to generate java classes, not only source.
>
> The problem with javac (and hence ant etc) is that it requires real  
> files
> for input and output, and I don't think it's possible to mock files
> without some major bootclasspath hacking. So compiling _can_ be  
> done with
> javac, but it's awkward and slow (at least when I'm forced to use  
> NTFS...)
>
> What I'd like to do, is to wrap my generated java source objects and
> dependency classes as something readable by a compiler (e.g.
> SourceProvider and ClassProvider), and then wrap the compiler's output
> (e.g. ClassProvider) as java class objects usable in my metalanguage.
>
> So, is this easily achievable with asm, and if so, would some asm  
> guru be
> willing to implement it for (or with) me?
>
> Kind regards,
> Ville Oikarinen
>
> P.S. I am aware of the compiler API of Java 6, but I don't think
> dependency to Java 6 will be a good idea for a long time.
>
>
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