Re: Another question (Im so pyched that I found this group :) )

[khym@bga.com (Khym Mahn)]

In article <1994May5.161247.2309@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>,
Mark Manning/Metrica <mark@zaphod.jsc.nasa.gov> wrote:
>I hate to tell you this, but an assembler can be a compiler.  All a
>compiler is, is a program which compiles source code into some other
>form (P-Code, Object File, Executable, etc...).  The Lisa program
>falls into this category.  It takes assembly language statements
>(source code) and converts it to an executable program (which is,
>indeed, a different form).

You sound like Hal Bouma :-) I had a feeling that someone would
mention this... While you may right, it seems that most people do not
think that assemblers are compilers. There's only one way to assemble
an assembly source file into an executable. A compiler, however, might
generate many different executables from the same source file.
Although I do seem to recall hearing something about "optimizing
assemblers" that will take your wonderfully hand-crafted assembly and
munge it into something it thinks will run faster... :-) I guess I
feel that "compiler" should be used for the higher level languages
only.

Besides, the original poster said he was tired of programming in BASIC
and assembly language. So there. :-)

Adobe calls their PostScript to PDF dealie a distiller... weird :)
-- 
Name: Dave Huang                | Mammal, mammal / their names are called /
INet: khym@bga.com              | they raise a paw / the bat, the cat /
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