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by chenglou 3021 days ago
From the intro: http://scopes.readthedocs.io/en/latest/about.html

> the compiler is designed to remain on-line at runtime so that functions can be recompiled when the need arises, and generated machine code can adapt to the instruction set present on the target machine. This also diminishes the need for a build system

Diminishing the need for a build system is nice! Any other language with such philosophy in mind?

2 comments

> The Scopes compiler fundamentally differs from C++ and other traditional AOT (ahead of time) compilers, in that the compiler is designed to remain on-line at runtime so that functions can be recompiled when the need arises, and generated machine code can adapt to the instruction set present on the target machine. This also diminishes the need for a build system. Still, Scopes is not a JIT compiler. Compilation is always explicitly initiated by the user.

Many Lisp systems also have their native code compiler on-line.

It hasn't obviated the need for a build system, but this is a traditional feature of Lisp [1]. With modern security requirements, though, I'm not sure how popular this approach is going to be.

[1]: http://www.paulgraham.com/diff.html "The whole language always available"