The definitive guide to this system is Pascal Implementation: The P4 Compiler and Interpreter by Steven Pemberton and Martin Daniels. It provides the complete, documented source code for both the compiler and interpreter.
Also written in Pascal, it acts as a virtual machine that assembles and executes the P-Code output. Implementation and Bootstrapping Process
Modern versions and fixes (such as ISO 7185 compliance) are available on platforms like GitHub and Hans Otten's Pascal site . Technical Characteristics PASCAL Implementation: P4 Compiler Compiler and...
Compile pcom.p and pint.p using an existing Pascal compiler.
By targeting an abstract "P-Machine," the compiler remains machine-independent. To port Pascal to a new system, one only needs to write a P-Code interpreter or a P-Code-to-native-code translator for that specific hardware. The definitive guide to this system is Pascal
The compiler is the fourth iteration of the Pascal-P system developed at ETH Zurich. It is a portable "compiler-compiler" implementation kit designed to aid in the bootstrapping of Pascal compilers on new machine architectures by producing an intermediate code known as P-Code . Core Components of the P4 System The system typically consists of two main programs:
Written in Pascal, this program translates Pascal source code into P-Code. To port Pascal to a new system, one
Run the pint interpreter, providing the prr file as input to execute the program. Key Resources and Documentation