Java as an Intermediate Language

We present our experiences in using Java as an intermediate language for the high level program ming language Nesl First we describe the design and implementation of a system for translating Vcode the current intermediate language used by Nesl into Java Second we evaluate this translation by comparing the performance of the original Vcode implementation with several vari ants of the Java implementation The translator was easy to build and the generated Java code achieves reasonable performance when using a just in time compiler We conclude that Java is attractive both as a compilation target for rapid prototyping of new programming languages and as a means of improving the portability of existing programming languages jch cs cmu edu sipelstein cs cmu edu This research is sponsored by theWright Laboratory Aeronautical Systems Center Air Force Materiel Command USAF and the Advanced Research Projects Agency ARPA under grant F The U S Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Government purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation thereon Views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the author and should not be interpreted as representing the o cial policies either expressed or implied of ARPA or the U S Government