From: William Rutiser <wruyahoo05@...>
Date: 2010-10-06T06:07:04+09:00
Subject: Re: how can we make a ruby compiler

Philip Rhoades wrote:
> Bill,
>
>
> On 2010-10-06 02:59, William Rutiser wrote:
>> Rick DeNatale wrote:
>>>
>>> And Gerald Sussman went on to write, with Julie Sussman and Harold
>>> Abelson, "The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" which
>>> should be an eye-opener to anyone who has thought of C as the
>>> prototypical programming language.
>> Thanks to MIT's open course ware program, 21 hours of video of Sussman
>> and Abelson teaching a course of the same name are available here:
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E18841CABEA24090
>>
>> Links to the book itself and other information are here:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_and_Interpretation_of_Computer_Programs 
>>
>
>
> What level of programmer is this stuff aimed at?  I want a Ruby 
> compiler (see previous message) but am interested generally and would 
> like to know more but I am a biologist and not really a serious 
> low-level coder . .
>
> Thanks,
>
> Phil.
The book was the text for the introductory programming course at MIT. 
The preface, describing the teaching of the material over several years 
to 600-700 students, says:
> Most of these students have had little or no prior formal training in 
> computation, although many have played with computers a bit and a few 
> have had extensive programming or hardware-design experience.
MIT, of course, is not a trade-school and this book is not really about 
the Scheme language. Its about computation and programming itself. 
Perhaps it will help to think of it as being like an introduction to 
cell biology as opposed to a cook book for a sushi chef. (Ignore the 
metaphor if it doesn't resonate.)

You can download the book at the cost of a little bandwidth. I suggest 
you do so and read the forward, preface, table of contents, then skim 
the first chapter and flip thru the rest of the book. Note that it ends 
with a compiler and garbage collector. Then you can make an informed 
decision about how much time to devote to it.

As for a Ruby compiler, a useful one is very unlikely for many reasons. 
Now a compiler for a different language that has a distant family 
resemblance to Ruby may be possible but likely of not much practical use.

-- Bill