implementing a new programming language

Question

Suppose I have designed a new programming language for one of the managed code environments (.NET/JVM). Can I now implement it by simply writing a translator that translates the source code of this new language into the main language of the platform (C#/Java) and then letting the platform's compilers and other tools handle the rest of the process ? Are there any simple, proof of concept , examples of this approach ?

Answer 1

Yes, you can do that so long as the semantics map properly (care must be taken, for instance, in mapping JavaScript code to a language such as C# because the scoping rules are different).

It is not on a managed platform, but you could look at Vala. It is a C#-like language that compiles to C. Eiffel also compiles to C (and supports compiling to Java).

If you are on a managed platform, however, you may want to look in to emitting bytecode directly. Java bytecode is not difficult to emit, as the VM takes care of and provides instructions for the trickier pieces of compiling (such as managing stack frames) and the VM eliminates other hairy corners such as register allocation.