[Oberon] LOOP conversion

[Chris Burrows]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Oberon [mailto:oberon-bounces at lists.inf.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of
> Skulski, Wojciech
> Sent: Thursday, 7 January 2021 1:53 PM
> To: ETH Oberon and related systems
> Subject: Re: [Oberon] [EXT] LOOP conversion
> 
> Andreas:
> 
> >I have a sneaking suspicion that the participants in this discussion
> >have (probably?) already spent more time on this question than the
> time
> >it would take to add LOOP to the compiler ;-)
> 
> I would if I could. But there are some limits to my knowledge and
> skills. I know how to do many things, but not this one.
> 
> Other users are in a similar situation. Not every user is capable to
> define a language and to implement or change the compiler.
> 
> We are at your mercy.
> 

I believe in that clichéd quote "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a
day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime".

How much of your time would you be prepared to invest to learn how to add
LOOP and multiple EXITs to Wirth's published Project Oberon Oberon-07
compiler? 

If you give a reasonable answer I am prepared to give you (and anybody else
watching this list) step by step instructions of the approach you can take
to achieve it. As far as compiler modifications go it is relatively
straightforward. The completed exercise consists of approximately 20
additional statements in two of the compiler modules and makes use of
existing code generation procedures. Once you have completed those steps you
should have learnt enough to be able to add multiple RETURNs as well with
little or no assistance and to make similar changes to Andreas's source code
if you want to build on that instead.

Step 1. Prepare an environment to allow you to edit the compiler source
code, compile it and execute it.

I expect that you will find it to be a very empowering exercise. The only
fear I have is that once "the genie is out of the bottle" there will be no
putting it back ;-)

Regards,
Chris Burrows
https://www.astrobe.com