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From: johnl@ima.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.compilers
Subject: Compilers producing assembly language
Message-ID: <765@ima.ISC.COM>
Date: Tue, 24-Nov-87 12:08:51 EST
Article-I.D.: ima.765
Posted: Tue Nov 24 12:08:51 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 29-Nov-87 02:17:14 EST
Sender: johnl@ima.ISC.COM
Reply-To: uiucdcs!gatech!emory!arnold (Arnold D. Robbins {EUCC})
Organization: Math & Computer Science, Emory University, Atlanta
Lines: 32
Approved: compilers@ima.UUCP

This may or may not reopen and old debate that I don't know about...

How many compilers in "the real world" produce assembly language instead
of relocatable binary? I know that almost all standard (i.e. from a vendor)
Unix compilers first produce assembly language. I don't know about some
of the more exotic Unix machines such at UTS, Cray Unix or systems where
the C compiler was first written for a different OS (e.g. DG). What about
second party Unix compilers, e.g. Greenhills, Tartan Labs?

What I'm really after is:

1) Are there a lot of Unix compilers that don't produce assembly?

2) Are there common non-Unix compilers that do produce assembly?

3) [The $64,000 question:] Given that one's assembler (like 'as' on
   Unix) does not have a lot of extra overhead (macros etc.), is there
   still that big a win in generating relocatable binary directly?
-- 
Arnold Robbins
ARPA, CSNET:	arnold@emory.ARPA	BITNET: arnold@emory
UUCP: { decvax, gatech, }!emory!arnold	DOMAIN: arnold@emory.edu (soon)
[I've heard arguments either way.  Most assemblers on non-Unix systems are
chock full of features and so are so slow as to be unsuitable for the last
pass of a compiler, so the question never comes up.  Other than some of the
C compilers for the PC which optionally run through the assembler so as to
allow in-line assembler to be passed through, I've never seen a non-Unix
compiler that produces assembler.  -John]
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