Seriously considering a ground-up rewrite of the #EpochLanguage compiler... Yet again. The existing project is riddled with assumptions that I don't like, is very poorly organized, and implements a language that is almost - but not quite - what I want it to be.
If I do it, I will keep large chunks of the existing code (linker mostly). But it's a big enough lift that I am very hesitant.
I would really like to understand why LLVM's CodeView support generates symbol types that are rarely (never?) emitted by actual Microsoft compilers.
Getting the Visual Studio debugger to properly inspect variables has been a long running nightmare, punctuated by "temporary" hacks and workarounds.
It really reinforces my strong suspicions that LLVM is philosophically hostile to debuggers (see: inspecting its source code in a debugger is a waste of time).
Recently resumed work on #EpochLanguage after a couple months off. Currently striving for a 64-bit self hosted compiler.
The 64-bit self host is so far smoother than 32-bit was, largely because the debugging experience is much better. Having PDB symbols is a huge win, even without variable inspection.
I've properly decided to commit to writing my second self-hosting compiler for #EpochLanguage - this time aiming for 64-bit native.
Should be more pleasant this time around since at a minimum I will have usable call stack traces... Once the PDB generator is sufficiently generalized of course.
Mike Lewis