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Against Query Based Compilers

matklad.github.io · 1,469 words · saved by 1 readers

Query based compilers are all the rage these days, so it feels only appropriate to chart some treacherous shoals in those waters.

Query based compilers are all the rage these days, so it feels only appropriate to chart some treacherous shoals in those waters. A query-based compiler is a straightforward application of the idea of incremental computations to, you guessed it, compiling. A compiler is just a simple text transformation program, implemented as a lot of functions. You could visualize a run of a compiler on a particular input source code as a graph of function calls: Here, schematically, squares are inputs like file text or compiler’s command line arguments, g is an intermediate function (e.g, type checking), wh

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