[LLVMdev] Thinking about "whacky" backends

[Joachim Durchholz]

I've been tossing around some ideas about high-level backends.

Say, have LLVM emit Perl code.

Sounds whacky but isn't. It's good for the first bootstrapping phase in 
environments where you don't have a C compiler, where you don't have a 
cross-compiled binary for download, but you can execute Perl.
It also makes a great inspect-the-sources-with-an-editor stage for 
aspiring compiler writers.

Or emit JVM bytecode, or maybe for the upcoming Parrot VM that the Perl 
community is building.

The questions I'm having is:
1. Is this really a useful approach?
2. How much work would such a backend be?

Regards,
Jo