How does compiling work?

[stephen barncard]

Thanks, Richard. I was hoping you would speak up. This is going into my
Script Scrapbook.

It is odd that Runrev doesn't tout its technical uniqueness more . LIvecode
is a radical departure from other programming languages with provable
advantages and measurable productivity.

Is their reluctance to explain based on the 'conventional wisdom' that says
that technical explanations will only confuse the customer?

Would a "how it works" sidebar on the Runrev site be detrimental in any
way?

It should be noted that the new Livecode Server has a two-pass compiler
rather than the single pass for the desktop version.

This is a tremendous improvement over the previous version, as it allows the
placement of all subroutines below all other activity.  I just created a
'one page app'  that handles all the stages of display, submitting and
responding to an email submission in a single .lc file.  All html is encased
in livecode handlers that drop in and out of html code.


Julian Ohrt wrote:
>
>  Is there any documentation how compiling of livecode works internally?
>> Is it a compiler which can produce native code (for Windows, Linux,
>> etc.)? Are the scripts packaged within the executable together with an
>> interpreter and interpreted at run time? Or is it more like a virtual
>> machine approach?
>>
>

On 8 September 2011 07:00, Richard Gaskin <ambassador at fourthworld.com>
 wrote:

>
> Yes, I think it could be said that LiveCode has more in common with a
> virtual machine than almost any other metaphor.
>
> My understanding of the under-the-hood mechanics is very limited, but that
> won't stop me from trying. :)
>
> There are many layers to code execution and the languages which work at
> each level, which could be summarized as:
>
> - CPU instruction set/Object code:  the intructions the processor is able
> to handle on its own, purely binary code; these are very primitive,
> consistent largely of moving stuff from one memory location to another, some
> basic math routines, etc.  Most mortals never write machine code directly,
> relying on assemblers or or compilers to translate their more human-readable
> code into machine instructions.
>
>
....


Stephen Barncard
San Francisco Ca. USA

more about sqb  <http://www.google.com/profiles/sbarncar>