cliffs

[David Collier-Brown]

Richard Sharpe wrote:
> Well, I have been down that path partially before, and the problem it seems
> to me is that what you now have is the syntax under control, but not the
> semantics.

	Some things with semantics are trivial, others are hard (;-))

	A couple of years ago I worked on a project which 
	generated tests and test data from a simple semantic
	notation (ADL): the hard part was sitting doen and mapping
	the syntax to the semantics for all the*#%$@$@%! possible
	operations we were looking at.

	On the other hand, having the syntax descriptions for
	library calls conveniently available allowed Sun to 
	create apptrace (http://www.sun.com/blueprints/0400/s8upgrade.pdf)
	which is like strace for library calls.  I wouldn't
	have reccomended doing it by hand!

> There is still a lot of work to do, but I will be in Canberra in a couple
> of weeks and I can see now what Andrew was referring to when I asked if
> there was anything I could do for three days or so, and he said yes!

	That sound about right for a rewrite (;-))

--dave
-- 
David Collier-Brown,  | Always do right. This will gratify some people
185 Ellerslie Ave.,   | and astonish the rest.        -- Mark Twain
Willowdale, Ontario   | //www.oreilly.com/catalog/samba/author.html
Work: (905) 415-2849 Home: (416) 223-8968 Email: davecb at canada.sun.com