[Caml-list] Byte-code -> native code conversion?

[Caml-list] Byte-code -> native code conversion?

[Walter B. Rader]

In theory, is it possible to "convert" a Caml byte-code program into
a native executable (without the source code of that program being
available)?

I'm wondering if it would be possible to distribute Caml programs in
byte-code format for portability, and the user may then choose to compile
the program to native code for speed.

Is this possible?  Difficult?  Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Walter Rader


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Re: [Caml-list] Byte-code -> native code conversion?

[Warp]

> In theory, is it possible to "convert" a Caml byte-code program into
> a native executable (without the source code of that program being
> available)?
>
> I'm wondering if it would be possible to distribute Caml programs in
> byte-code format for portability, and the user may then choose to compile
> the program to native code for speed.
>
> Is this possible?  Difficult?  Any thoughts?

I think it won't be too much difficult to write a virtual machine which will
convert on-the-flow ocaml bytecode into native asm code, and then call it.
But seems like much efforts have been made in register assignation of the
ocaml interpreter ( under GCC ) to make the interpreter running faster, so
you can use bytecode compilation without a big speed loss.

Anyway, ocaml bytecode "translated" to native asm won't be as much optimized
as native can be.

Warp

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