Re: [Caml-list] off-brand use of ocaml bytecode

[Yotam Barnoy <yotambarnoy@gmail.com>]

Check out Stephen Dolan's Malfunction
(https://github.com/stedolan/malfunction). You essentially compile
down to OCaml's internal representation, and the compiler takes it
from there, making either bytecode or native binaries.

On Thu, Dec 22, 2016 at 10:48 AM, Evgeny Roubinchtein
<zhenya1007@gmail.com> wrote:
> I know there are people on this list who are way more qualified to answer
> these questions, but let me try.
>
> On Wed, Dec 21, 2016 at 8:12 PM, Hendrik Boom <hendrik@topoi.pooq.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> Are there ny tools available that could be used to generate ocaml
>> bytecode for other languages?
>
>
> I don't think you will get a definitive answer on this list.   Here is a
> thought experiment showing why.  Suppose J. Random Hacker decides to write a
> compiler from WhizBangLang to OCaml byte code.  Under the assumption that
> OCaml developers are not omniscient, the way they would learn about J.
> Random Hacker's efforts is if s/he either: a) announces the new language in
> some venue that OCaml developers watch or b) finds [what s/he believes are]
> bugs in the OCaml byte code interpreter and files bug reports against it.
> It isn't clear to me that our J Random Hacker must needs do either of those
> things.
>
>> If I were to do that, by hand or otherwise, how would I interpret or
>> compile it?
>
>
> The ocamlrun program, shipped with the OCaml distribution and documented at
> http://caml.inria.fr/pub/docs/manual-ocaml/runtime.html is the standard
> interpreter for the OCaml byte code.
>
> For the OCaml compiler, the byte code is a target (as opposed to a source or
> an intermediate representation), so the existing OCaml tool chain does not
> support compiling byte code, to the best of my knowledge (AFAIK projects
> like Bucklescript and js_of_ocaml use the OCaml front-end and intermediate
> representation, but supply a different compiler back end).
>
>> Would the ocaml run-time system we available -- things like the garbage
>> collector, I/O libraries, etc.
>
>
> I think that question is answered in the documentation of ocamlrun.   You
> probably will also want to peruse
> http://caml.inria.fr/pub/docs/manual-ocaml/intfc.html and specifically the
> discussion of static and dynamic linking of C code with OCaml code.
>
>>
>> Is anyone else working of projects like this?
>
>
> I am not entirely certain what the intended antecedent of "this" is here.
> If "this" is "a compiler that targets OCaml byte code", then please see my
> answer above.  If you feel that the current design of "ocamlrun for standard
> primitives + the '-custom' flag to the OCaml compiler for non-standard
> primitives" is failing to address a need, then a description of the need
> that isn't being addressed would be a good starting point for discussion.
> ;-)
>
> Hope this helps
> --
> Best,
> Zhenya
>