Harvard vs. vonNeuman

[Alexander Schreiber]

On Tue, Sep 28, 2004 at 04:05:18PM -0400, David V. Corbin wrote:
> >>> >>>
> >>> Can you create self modifying code in any high level 
> >>> language, the kind of code where the application program 
> >>> actually changes it's own instructions?
> >>> 
> >>> I know in C it is possible to pass an address of a function 
> >>> to a function, that's not really what I mean.
> >>> 
> 
> Actually this is (sort of) becoming more common. One exciting feature of a
> new platform by the software vendor who shall not be named, is that the
> compiler is actually part of the runtime. This means that any program can
> write source code to a string (or other structure) and compile and execute
> it!!!!!!

This "new feature" has been with us for a _long_ time, just not with the
likes of C. Having the full language always available and being able to
write programs that build, compile and execute programs at runtime
without any special tools is one of the many nice features of Common
Lisp and in general, most lisp-like languages. Seems again that The
Software Vendor That Shall Not Be Named knows where to steal his "new
features" ;-)

Regards,
       Alex.
-- 
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
 looks like work."                                      -- Thomas A. Edison