From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: weis Received: (from weis@localhost) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) id TAA19158 for caml-redistribution; Fri, 29 Oct 1999 19:21:35 +0200 (MET DST) Received: from concorde.inria.fr (concorde.inria.fr [192.93.2.39]) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id LAA27710 for ; Fri, 29 Oct 1999 11:44:17 +0200 (MET DST) Received: from pauillac.inria.fr (pauillac.inria.fr [128.93.11.35]) by concorde.inria.fr (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id LAA10786; Fri, 29 Oct 1999 11:44:08 +0200 (MET DST) Received: (from fpottier@localhost) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) id LAA31740; Fri, 29 Oct 1999 11:44:07 +0200 (MET DST) Message-ID: <19991029114407.05613@pauillac.inria.fr> Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 11:44:07 +0200 From: Francois Pottier To: matias@k-bell.com Cc: caml-list@inria.fr Subject: Re: Go for ultimate localization! References: <38188EFB.80C29974@k-bell.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mailer: Mutt 0.89.1 In-Reply-To: =?iso-8859-1?Q?=3C38188EFB.80C29974=40k-bell.com=3E=3B_from_Mat=EDas?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?_Giovannini_on_Thu=2C_Oct_28=2C_1999_at_02=3A59=3A29PM_-0?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?300?= Sender: weis > Localizing the language is not that difficult, but it would involve > exposing the abstract syntax to the localizer, and the localizer would > have the difficult task of rewriting the parser. I would like to point out that this has been done by Apple in their AppleScript scripting language. It looks cool at first sight, but it means that textual programs are no longer portable, since the machine you're moving to may not use the same language as yours. So, only the (binary) abstract syntax tree is portable, which is (IMHO) a very bad thing, since maintaining compatibility across versions of the language becomes very difficult. -- François Pottier Francois.Pottier@inria.fr http://pauillac.inria.fr/~fpottier/