Re: JavaVM compiler for Python?

Bill Janssen (janssen@parc.xerox.com)
Wed, 19 Apr 1995 11:32:38 PDT

Excerpts from ext.python: 18-Apr-95 Re: JavaVM compiler for Pyt.. Steven
Grimm@spud.hyperi (1377)

> Any particular reason you'd like to see Python compiled into JavaVM rather
> than a language like C or C++? Seems to me that the latter is perhaps more
> generally useful, at least until someone comes up with compilers (macro
> assemblers?) to translate JavaVM to native executables. Or are you aiming
> at writing applets for HotJava in Python?

The big reason would be that the Java VM supports a real runtime,
presumably including garbage collection and threads, whereas C and C++
have no notion of such `modern' features. The notion of compiling to a
particular machine-independent assembly language (C or C++), is only
realistic if combined with some sort of standard runtime.

Bill