Re: Adapting an Ada compiler to generate 8051 code (Again?! ;-)

[Niklas Holsti <niklas.holsti@tidorum.invalid>]

On 2021-04-01 2:14, Randy Brukardt wrote:
> "Niklas Holsti" <niklas.holsti@tidorum.invalid> wrote in message
> news:icgdhjF3j1eU1@mid.individual.net...
> ...
>> I have often wished that there would be Ada compilers for more
>> microcontrollers, but I understand why there aren't. An Ada-to-C compiler
>> seems the most promising route.
> 
> Send $$$. ;-) This was a project that was ideally suited for the
> Janus/Ada compiler suite, but we never were able to find a customer
> for it. The problem is always that the first customer has to pay a
> substantial part of the development; later customers don't have to
> pay that freight. (Back in the "waiver" days we considered doing it
> for the "fun" of making DoD-types have to find better excuses to
> avoid Ada than a compiler not existing for it, but the likely ROI
> wasn't there to convince the angel investors to go along with the
> idea.)

Yes, things like that were among the reasons I had in mind for the lack 
of such Ada compilers. Plus the fact that the pain of writing a small C 
program is much less than the pain of writing a large C program.

If you think that targeting Janus/Ada to small microcontrollers is 
practical, I have two questions for you:

Can you describe, in general, the Janus/Ada internal program 
representation that, say, an 8051-back-end would get as input?

Would you be open to external/community participation in creating new 
back ends for Janus/Ada, either under NDA or working from a public 
definition of the internal representation, and either work-for-free or 
work for some share of future sales?

--
Niklas Holsti
Tidorum Ltd