portability? !

C is most portable because compilers are available for nearly every type of processor (every type of assembly) in existence.

A program produced by a C++ compiler will only run on the platform it is compiler for.

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regardless, why isnt there a Generalized Asm Set

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Java, .Net, and Transmeta all take this appraoch.

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Converting would be pretty much emulating. That is how an emulator works, it converts one ASM set to another. And if a lot of things ran like this the system would run very inefficiently.

Also, you may face problems such as patents on certain instructions sets that come with different microprocessors. I am sure Apple would love it if the Intel CPU could run MAC instructions.

It would be more efficient, and worth time, to write a language that would compile across all systems to the proper instruction set.

So create this GAS in a generic format, not to infringe on any copyrights, then recompile it to whatever instruction set on the target computer. Though this does bring many other implications into mind, such as MMX, 3D-NOW, and whatever the MAC has as its equivalent. It technically could not store instructions specific to each of those systems.

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Original post by kurifu
Though this does bring many other implications into mind, such as MMX, 3D-NOW, and whatever the MAC has as its equivalent.

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Motorolla processors have AltiVec. I don''t think the IBM PPC processors have it though. I''m not sure exactly what it does, but it''s in the same spirit.

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