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I'm a student and started developing some projects in VB.Net and I'm liking it a lot. However, I asked this question to some colleagues and they couldn't answer. Even my teacher wasn't able to clarify what was exactly VB and .Net. I have checked this question here but even the accepted answer gives me some doubts.
For example, for this bit of code here
Class Example
Private _value As Integer
Public Sub New()
_value = 2
End Sub
Public Function Value() As Integer
Return _value * 2
End Function
End Class
Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim x As Example = New Example()
Console.WriteLine(x.Value())
End Sub
End Module
How can the language be separated from the framework? I know the language is syntax and all but, where is the framework?
I've read that frameworks contain libraries: what are exactly libraries? The language (syntax and all) I can see it, it can be seen, but is the framework visible too? If so, where?
So in a VB.Net application, when I look at the code, all I can see is VB: the same goes for C#.Net applications.
Maybe silly example: For instance, for a car to function, all components must be good - from the tires to the hood, the engine, the fuel - but all of them are visible, and while from the outside we can't see the oil or fuel running inside or the pistons working, we can see them if we want.
Is it possible to see all the components when looking at a VB/C# .Net application? I mean, to look at code and clearly distinguish what is VB or C# and .Net?
Thanks
There are three primary parts to the .NET framework:
Compiler (MSBuild)
Runtime environment (CLR) - virtual machine, garbage collector, etc.
Supporting libraries (FCL)- System, ADO.NET, LINQ, WPF, WCF, etc.
All three of the above are included with the freely-distributed .NET Framework. The term .NET Framework refers collectively, and loosely, to all of those things, but they each perform very different roles. The answer to your question is different for each of those parts.
Compiler
As you probably know, you cannot run VB.NET code directly. It must first be compiled into an executable which can be launched as a Windows process. The compiler is used to compile a variety of high level languages (such as VB.NET and C#) into assemblies (e.g. EXEs, DLLs). Unlike native compilers, though, .NET assemblies do not contain native machine code. Instead, the .NET compiler compiles into .NET assemblies which contain MSIL code. MSIL is a slightly-higher-level-than-machine-code language which, in theory, can be run by a virtual machine on any platform.
The compiler is obviously not visible in your code. Obviously there is no place in your code where you can say "that's the compiler". Rather, the compiler is the tool that you use to compile all of your code. The compiler, though, does dictate what languages you can use. If the .NET framework does not contain a Ruby compiler, then you can't very well write a .NET application in Ruby. So, in that way, the fact that your code is written in VB.NET or C# at all is the indication that it will be compiled using the .NET Framework.
You may be thinking, "The compiler isn't part of the framework--that's part of Visual Studio." But if you were thinking that, you would be wrong. The compiler is installed as part of the .NET framework. You don't technically need Visual Studio to compile a .NET application. You could write an application in any .NET language, using Notepad, and then compile and run it with the .NET Framework without ever having installed Visual Studio.
The compiler portion of the .NET Framework is referred to as MSBuild.
Runtime Environment
Since the compiler compiles your high-level code into MSIL assemblies, rather than into native machine-code binaries, you must have the .NET Framework installed in order to run any .NET application. When you run a .NET application, the Framework is responsible for just-in-time (JIT) compiling the MSIL code into machine code so that it can be executed on your current platform. It also provides the memory management features such as garbage collection.
The same runtime environment is shared by all .NET languages (since all .NET languages compile to MSIL code). Therefore, it's not a VB.NET runtime environment nor a C# runtime environment, but rather, it's a MSIL runtime environment. Instead of having one runtime environment per language, there is actually one runtime environment per platform. A separate environment must be custom implemented for each processor architecture and each operating system on which the Framework will run.
This part of the framework is largely invisible to you and your code. There are some methods you can call to access the GAC, or the garbage collector, or the .NET security system, but other than that, you don't even know it's there. Unless the Framework isn't installed, that is--in that case, it becomes clear very quickly just how necessary it is.
The runtime-environment portion of the .NET Framework is referred to as the Common Language Runtime (CLR).
Supporting Libraries
The .NET Framework comes packed with many extraordinarily useful libraries (DLLs). For instance, every application references the mscorlib.dll and System.dll libraries, which provide many of the core data types in the System namespace. There are many other libraries which you can optionally reference with your projects as necessary.
These supporting libraries are provided as already-compiled MSIL assemblies, so they can all be referenced and used by projects written in any .NET supported language. When you call Console.WriteLine("Hello World") in VB.NET and Console.WriteLine("Hello World"); in C#, you are calling the exact same .NET Framework library. The Console class is defined in the mscorlib.dll library. It doesn't matter which language you use to call it, it always does the same thing.
The supporting libraries are very visible in your code. Any time you use anything that is not explicitly defined by you in your own code, you are using the Framework (unless, of course, it's something from a third-party library). In your example code above, you are using Integer and Console. Both of those types are defined by the .NET Framework's supporting libraries (both are defined by mscorlib.dll). In other words, the language is all of the syntax that you use to make the calls to the Framework. Everything else is the Framework.
If you want to "see" the supporting libraries, the best place to start is in Visual Studio. You can use the Object Browser to browse through all of the types defined by the libraries that you currently have referenced in your project. If you want to reference more .NET Framework libraries, go to your Project Properties designer's References tab, click the Add... button, then select the Asseblies > Framework option. That will list all of the supporting libraries that are provided as part of the .NET Framework. If you want to find out more about any of the functionality provided by any of those libraries, your best resource is the MSDN (and Stack Overflow, of course).
The supporting libraries portion of the .NET Framework is referred to as the Framework Class Library (FCL).
Here is how I envision the two
The framework is the set of libraries, APIs and runtime components that are available for the language to use
The language is the syntax by which the framework is accessed
In many cases it's hard to separate the two because the language when used is nearly always accessing some part of the framework. Take for instance even this very simple definition
Class Example
End Class
Even though it is unstated, this definition depends on the targeted framework having a definition of System.Object. This is necessary for the language to setup the appropriate base class for Example.
You have to keep in mind that if you're using a programming language, at some point it all must boil down to binary 1's and 0's.
This means that when your program gets compiled and run, it's making use of the C# compiler. The C# compiler is a program written in a native language (probably c or c++). This program allows yours to be converted into stuff that the .net framework runtime can understand. Essentially, your C# code becomes some sort of intermediate bytecode.
Similarly, after your program is compiled into this intermediate bytecode, it is run on top of a virtual machine (JVM for Java or the .net framework runtime for C#). This virtual machine is a pre-compiled program written in a native language (c or c++), which allows your program to interface with the computer's processor in a way that both understand.
All of these pre-written, pre-compiled pieces are part of a framework. They are installed to your machine in some particular location (which is why they might not be readily visible with the rest of your code and assets) and provide APIs to anything that wants to make use of them.
The APIs are analogous to the understanding between a gas pedal and an engine. An engine accepts more fuel as a result of someone pressing the gas pedal. In some sense, the engine "talks" to the gas pedal and understands that if you press firmly on the pedal, the engine should respond by injecting more gasoline into the combustion chambers.
These individual pieces, along with their "understandings" represent a framework. You might add a "Driver" who can operate a gas pedal as your "C# Application".
How can the language be separated from the framework?
For example... take for instance English, English is a language, while a book would be a Framework. In this example, you can write whatever you want in English, but you can't write in "The Hobbit", because it is a book, not a language.
However, you can make references to the book. For instance you can talk about Trolls, and you don't have to define it's behavior or looks, because the book already defines them for you.
Where is the framework?
The framework exists whenever you make reference to it. In the Trolls example, if you ask "Do you know how do Trolls look like?", I would need a context for that, it may be Harry Potter's, Tolkien's, World of Warcraft's, etc. And I will give you compilation errors because I can't understand you.
If however we "use" the same "Framework" (book), or if you tell me about them before, I would be able to respond you (compile).
Is the framework visible too? If so, where?
VB/C# are languages, you can't "really see" where it is, because you write it. It is like asking where is English. You can however compile it, and that is what you can "find", just like you can find a printer.
The Framework is a set of libraries/utilities already packed into a beautiful black box that you download and trust your life to.
VisualStudio helps you a lot, and it will hide "complicated stuff", imagine like it is a movie called The Lord of The Rings, and it removes a lot of stuff that you can't really look into unless you read the book.
You can't really dive into "what .NET does internally", because it is closed software. Imagine that I burn down all the books and you have to trust the movie.
But you could use an Open Source example such as Struts (a JavaEE Framework) because it is open source (books should not be burned in Open Source examples).
Here is an abstract example.
Speech is similar to a framework, you have phonation, producing sound;
resonance; intonation, variance of pitch, etc. Those are all the building blocks for communicating.
To speak a specific language, you must utilize phonology, morphology, language syntax, proper grammar; semantics, etc - all the rules for that Language.
...
In a programming framework, you have building blocks (code libraries, dependent files, specific folder/file layout, ect.) that you might need to complete a programming task.
A programming language is the set of rules you must abide to in order for your application to correctly work.
....
In the Java programming language, I could open notepad and write java code, compile it, and run it on any machine that has the JVM installed.
Java Server Faces (JSF) is a framework where a Model-View-Controller (MVC) paradigm exists as the basis to run web applications. You have necessary dependent files (like web.xml) that must exist for the server to correctly implement, structured layout of classfiles, and implementation/configuration of other libraries. In an essence, your files are still written in the Java Programming language and your syntax must be correct, but if you want to build a web application using that framework, you must have adhere to those other specific patterns and constraints.
I wish to get a quick feeling for how much “copy and paste” coding we have, there are many tools for C# / Java to check for this type of thing. Are there any such tools that work well with VB.NET?
(I have seen what looks like lots of repeated code, but wish to get some number to help me make a case for sorting it out)
Update on progress.
I have just tried Simian.
It does not seem to be able to produce a nicely formatted report I can sent by email
It does not cope when the names of local variables, or parameters etc may have been changed, e.g it just matches on lines of text being the same.
Clone Doctor does not support VB.NET (only C# and VB 6 and lot of other)
October 2010: VB.net added to langauges supported by CloneDR
Clone Detective for Visual Studio only supports C#
SolidSDD - Source Code Duplication Detector only supports C, C++, C# and Java
DuplicateFinder is open source, but otherwise looks very match like Simian, e.g it just works on lines of text
ConQAT - Continuous Quality Assessment Toolkit seems to have a clone detector that works for VB.NET (not tried it yet)
Gendarme is a bit like FXCop and has a AvoidCodeDuplicatedInSameClassRule rule, this looks very promising, as it avoids the problem of working at the text level. Just tried it, it is the best solution so far, pity it does not search with a greater scope.
Before claiming that this question is a duplicate, please check that the other question addresses VB.NET, as a lot of tools that work well for C# don't work so well for VB.NET. (However it would not surprise me if this question is a real duplicate)
CodeRush 11.2 introduced a new feature called Duplicate Detection and Consolidation (DDC)
http://community.devexpress.com/blogs/markmiller/archive/2011/11/29/duplicate-detection-and-consolidation-in-coderush-for-visual-studio.aspx
Make sure to check out the options for it as well, as you can have it run when so many lines are changed, certainly time has passed, etc.
They've posted some decent videos on the DevExpress site too.
Simian: http://www.redhillconsulting.com.au/products/simian/
[I'm the author of CloneDR ("Clone Doctor").]
CloneDR is parameterized by a full grammar for the programming language in question. So it doesn't just match lines. Rather, it can find clones which are syntactically well-formed, with variations that are more than just identifier changes, regardless of where they stop or start in a line.
The engine on which CloneDR rests, The DMS Software Reengineering Toolkit" is a tool for analyzing large scale systems in any programming language, and uses language descriptions to drive the analysis. DMS has a wide variety of language front ends already available.
Presently it has VBScript and VB6 (as dialects of "Visual Basic"). It doesn't have VB.net, but that would be pretty straightforward to do given the DMS infrastructure and our experience with lots of other languages.
So, CloneDR could do this just fine, with a small bit of effort on our part.
EDIT October 2010: VB.net added as a language CloneDR can process.
Atomiq supports vb.net amongst other languages, and the results are nicely presented.
JetBrains published console tool set Resharper Console Tools to run duplication analysis. Once installed it allows you to do the same analysis as TeamCity does and generate duplicates report locally and even include duplicates search into custom build process with MSBuild. This tool does exactly what you need. More details you can find here at JetBrains blog post
Try Simian:
Simian (Similarity Analyser) identifies duplication in Java, C#, C, C++, COBOL, Ruby, JSP, ASP, HTML, XML, Visual Basic, Groovy source code and even plain text files.
I once saw an impressive demo of Pattern Insight; its CP Miner may be what you’re looking for: http://patterninsight.com/products/cp-miner.php. It seems to be language-independent, though I couldn’t find anything explicit about languages other than C/C++.
Roll up your sleeves and write your own parser to use it with CPD?
See the question for the tools I found.
In Ironpython site exists references to a language called VBx using DLR. But i can't find any reference to this in google. Where is it?
Edit: Is a Implement of Visual Basic 6.0 in DLR? if yes is so cool. Is more expected for people using VB6 yet and can't migrate because big frameworks.
From this mailing list post:
VBx was an implementation of Visual Basic on the DLR. It was first meant
to be in Silverlight, but the VB team decided they'd rather put VB.NET in
Silverlight rather than build a new implementation up from scratch. So, VBx
is on hold.
Apparently it's an implementation of VB in the DLR:
http://www.mail-archive.com/users#lists.ironpython.com/msg05933.html
Straight from the mouth of Paul Vick (long time VB architect)
What is VBx?
VBx was one of the four language implementations that were originally driving the design of the DLR, the other three being IronPython (from which the DLR was extracted in the first place), IronRuby and Managed JavaScript.
VBx was intended to be a dynamic version of Visual Basic.NET or a .NET version of Visual Basic 6, whichever way you want to look at it. It was primarily intended as a testbed for the flexibility of the DLR, secondarily as a testbed for a more dynamic version of VB.NET and tertiarily (is that a word?) as a scripting language for Silverlight. It has fulfilled its primary goal and the designers of VB.NET decided that they want to pursue goals two and three within the existing VB.NET language, rather than producing yet another slightly different incompatible version of VB. (You already have VB.NET, VB, VBA and VBScript.)
Managed JavaScript was also abandoned, the team was folded into the IE team and is responsible for the ECMAScript 5 engine in IE 9.
see also VB.NET Static Code Anaylsis
For better or for worst we now have a VB.NET coding standards document that is based on a C# coding standard as enforced by StyleCop.
For example
the number of spaces you should put in each side of a “+” sign etc
all instance Members (fields and methods!) must be access as “me.fieldName”
all shared members must be accessed as “className.fieldName”
As I tend to think:
If it’s in a requirements document it
should be check for by an automatic
system
I am looking for (ideally free) tools that will check for that short of rules on VB.NET code, as these are style issues that don’t make it into the compiled output, FxCop is not useful.
(I would personally match rather that we just check for important things like duplicated code and single reasonability for each class (so no more multi thousand line classes!), but as I need to keep to the coding standard document I wish to have a tool to help me do so.)
see also Enforcing using the class name whenever a shared member is accessed.
About the bounty.
I am looking for a list of VB.NET code checking tools, with a short summery of what each tool can do and its limitations. If the tools are not free, please include some ideal of cost.
Does anyone have experience using CodeRush/Refactor! or ReSharper with VB.NET to check for this type of coding style issues?
I know of no free source code analysis tools with good VB support. There are, however, at least two commercial tools that may be suitable:
submain CodeIt.Right
SSW Code Auditor
Personally, I prefer the CodeIt.Right rule authoring mechanism, so I would favour it if considerable custom rule development were planned. However, if you just want to use out-of-the box rules, Code Auditor ships with quite a few more code style rules than CodeIt.Right, most of whose built-in rules target the compiled IL (like FxCop).
The only ones I know of are:
Microsoft's FxCop
Of course, this only operates on compiled assemblies, so doesn't give the same functionality as StyleCop, and certainly won't help with things like naming schemes.
However, the closest thing is:
Aivosto's Project Analyzer v9.0 for Visual Basic, VB.NET and VBA
The full version is not free, but this is the closest thing to StyleCop for VB.NET that I can find.
There have been a number of calls for a VB.NET version of Microsoft's StyleCop, such as those in this thread on the code.msdn.microsoft.com site. That same thread also gives some good insight into why a VB.NET version doesn't exist.
I use ReSharper on a daily basis and I find it fine for both code formatting and for solving naming issues. It allows to configure how naming must be enforced, how issues are displayed (hint, suggestion, warning, etc) and provides a precise code formatter (space, paranthesis, line breaks, this qualifier, etc).
Note that I don't know if it can be run in batch mode.
Turning Option Explicit on by default is always a great idea and should be standard practice. I would argue it should be turned on by default in VS out of the box. But it doesn't come close to enforcing the out of the box rules that StyleCop does for C#, nor does it allow for you to create your own rules.
The whole reason for StyleCop's existence is because FxCop only works on compiled assemblies, leaving web projects out in the cold for a similar tool. With StyleCop, web developers get the same great rule enforcement and tight VS integration. It is a great tool for any C# developer.
It is unfortunate that it is only C# capable, a VB version would satisfy a large community that is left wanting something similar.
There already is a very good style tool built into the VB compiler. It is called Option Explicit On, put it at the top of the source code file or use Tools + Options + Project and Solutions + VB Defaults, Option Explicit = On. If that wasn't turned on previously there could be a mountain of errors when you compile your code after changing that.
If it is clean or already turned on, consider that you are 95% close to writing clean C# code and that the language doesn't really matter anymore.
Before answering this question, understand that I am not asking how to create my own programming language, I am asking how, using vb.net code, I can create a compiler for a language like vb.net itself. Essentially, the user inputs code, they get a .exe. By NO MEANS do I want to write my own language, as it seems other compiler related questions on here have asked. I also do not want to use the vb.net compiler itself, nor do I wish to duplicate the IDE.
The exact purpose of what I wish to do is rather hard to explain, but all I need is a nudge in the right direction for writing a compiler (from scratch if possible) which can simply take input and create a .exe. I have opened .exe files as plain text before (my own programs) to see if I could derive some meaning from what I assumed would be human readable text, yet I was obviously sorely disappointed to see the random ascii, though it is understandable why this is all I found.
I know that a .exe file is simply lines of code, being parsed by the computer it is on, but my question here really boils down to this: What code makes up a .exe? How could I go about making one in a plain text editor if I wanted to? (No, I do not want to do that, but if I understand the process my goals will be much easier to achieve.) What makes an executable file an executable file? Where does the logic of the code fit in?
This is intended to be a programming question as opposed to a computer question, which is why I did not post it on SuperUser. I know plenty of information about the System.IO namespace, so I know how to create a file and write to it, I simply do not know what exactly I would be placing inside this file to get it to work as an executable file.
I am sorry if this question is "confusing", "dumb", or "obvious", but I have not been able to find any information regarding the actual contents of an executable file anywhere.
One of my google searches
Something that looked promising
EDIT: The second link here, while it looked good, was an utter fail. I am not going to waste hours of my time hitting keys and recording the results. "Use the "Alt" and the 3-digit combinations to create symbols that do not appear on the keyboard but that you need in the program." (step 4) How the heck do I know what symbols I need???
Thank you very much for your help, and my apologies if this question is a nooby or "bad" one.
To sum this up simply: I want to create a program in vb.net that can compile code in a particular language to a single executable file. What methods exist that can allow me to do this, and if there are none, how can I go about writing my own from scratch?
What you're asking is a pretty complex question. Sure, at its core it seems pretty basic:
Interpret the code itself
Write out the interpreted code
but each of those steps can be pretty intense. Step 1 should be somewhat achievable with some time and a LOT of elbow grease - you need to parse the code into a number of control statements based upon the specification of the language. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsing for more information on this step. In essence you're converting the typed code into a common format that represents the functionality you want.
Once you've parsed the code, the next step would be to take that parsed code and convert it into machine-runnable code (typically assembly, though with VB.NET you can write Microsoft Intermediate Language code as the output and then run it in the CLR). This is what will actually create the executable file in a manner that lets the computer run the program.
Unfortunately, the best advice for solving this problem is to either:
Go purchase several books on a programming language, machine code, assembly language, compilers, and so on, then spend several months or years reading and experimenting until the knowledge you gain from the books results in your writing a successful compiler.
Enroll in a computer science program at a local university. Writing compilers and programming languages are usually covered at a rudimentary level during the second or third year of a BS in computer science, and then in much more depth at a graduate level.
Good luck!
EDIT: If all you're looking for is a way to write code and then write a way to execute it, you might try looking at writing an interpreter for one of the scripting languages that already exist - Ruby, Python, Lua, etc.
Process.Start(String.Format("vbc.exe {0}", sourceFilePath))
Here is one book that explains it all at a very basic level. Including sample code that you can get working in a matter of hours.
As with many programming endevors, it will take you many months of study to accomplish what you want. Good luck!!
Let me start by saying this is totally doable. Ignore the naysayers.
OK, so it seems you bit off more than you could chew here. I would suggest slightly re-evaluating your goal. It seems that you want to learn how compilers work, and writing a VB.net compiler is your project to get started.
Try instead to write an interpreter, which is a much smaller and simpler task. Here's how you do it:
Write a parser for a very very small language, maybe only supporting assignment statements. Use a parser toolkit, like Antlr. This will build an AST ("abstract syntax tree" - ie a few classes or objects representing the program's syntax, without the crap like semi-colons, as a tree), which will look something like this:
then you go through the AST, and just execute it. Google for "AST walker". So for the assignment x = 5, create a hashtable entry for 'x', assign 5 to it, then move on to the next statement.
keep adding features as you go.
Once you've got the full language, you'll probably have learned enough on the way to understand the compiler books. Don't use the dragon book, try Appel's book instead, or Cooper/Torczon. There are online books if you prefer, I've never tried them.
When you go to write the compiler, you'll just be changing the bit that executes the AST into one which generates assembly (or C if you prefer) which will do the same action when it's run.
I'll grant that it seems daunting, but if you stick to a something simple to start, you'll get something working in a few days at most. In a few months, you'll have built it up to something like what you're looking for. Good luck.
To the final part of your question:
It seems that you don't know how executables are made from code. People haven't messed with hex in their compilers since the 80s, and hopefully not much even then.
Basically, after parsing the code, you go through a series of steps which make the code progressively simpler. At the end of that, you have something that is quite close to assembly. You then generate assembly, and the assembler and linker conspire to make it into an executable.
The Visual Basic .NET compiler is shipped for free as part of the .NET Framework - you don't even need the SDK or Express Editions. The compiler for VB (and C#) is located at c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework[version]\vbc.exe (or csc.exe for C#). Therefore, any computer which can run a VB.NET program can compile one. The .NET Framework also includes the System.CodeDom namespace which provides a way from within a program to compile a program, either from a document model or from a string (or file) into a .NET assembly (.exe or .dll) and generate code in both VB and C#.
Regards,
Anthony D. Green | Program Manager | Visual Basic Compiler
You create a compiler for vb.net the same way you create any other compiler. You need a lexer/parser. Entire books have been written on this topic, the most famous probably being The Dragon Book.
To provide a definitive answer: No, you cannot create a decent compiler that will generate an executable file using Notepad. You need a compiler to convert from human-readable text into the machine language (assembly or IL) that a linker or interpreter can then execute.
You can try checking out my tutorial at http://www.icemanind.com
It is a tutorial on creating your own virtual machine and assembler, written in 100% C#.
Cyclone, I'm wondering exactly what are you trying to achieve? You say "the exact purpose of what I wish to do is rather hard to explain" and "essentially, the user inputs code, they get a .exe".
If you just want the user to be able to enter code and then execute it, you might consider an existing scripting language. VBScript is built into Windows and the language is fairly similar to VB.Net, or there are various excellent free languages you can download like Python.
If the user really needs to be able to create a .exe - I think it's likely scripting might do - then why not use an existing free compiler like FreeBasic, or even Visual Basic.Net Express Edition.
I am making a tutorial for that in my website, http://dgblogs.weebly.com. It is written with C# and you can create your own computer programming language!
You will never see this syntax in my tutorials:
Console.Readline();
My website is currently offline by now so, GOOD LUCK!
Thanks,
DgBlogs
Im quite shocked that this question was never fully answered ; Recently i came across some tutorials on the subject of developing a programming language from scratch https://www.youtube.com/c/DmitrySoshnikov-education/playlists
Although the person uses Java Script the technique used for creating the tokenizer and the parser to consume the output from the tokenizer producing the AST for the transcribed language which i would consider to be GOLD! ...
Another tutorial or person https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSq9OFrD2Q3DasoOa54Vm9Mr8CATyTbLF
Toby Ho! Has also produce various methods using the Nearly parser (plugin) to build a language much easier but not a Pure code coder like myself(does not like extensions to do the work which i can do myself)....
https://github.com/spydaz/SpydazWeb-AI-_Emulators
I was able to do some different experiments designing a stack machine (runs mini assembly language). for my "Toy" Programming language(basic) could be executed on. (the VM) - Using Visual Basic(My personal Lang - I think in VB)
Since revisiting the tutorials ;
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRAdsfhKI4OWNOSfS7EUu5GRAVmze1t2y
Immo Landwerth! Had a few more experiments This time with C#
A bit more Spaghetti to mull over; but actually revealing (after knowing a lot more);
Yes IT is possible to design a Compiler / VM with VB.net Quite easily ... without external tools .
For myself as an AI developer (CONVERSATIONAL AI / NLP) i was interested in building a compiler for the English language if it would be possible to use the technique for parsing syntax trees and building syntax trees from text using the Tokenizer/Parser to AST Method , as well as designing the transpiler to allow for the syntax tree to be used for translation to other languages. as with today's programming languages merely being a Higher lever language interfacing with a low level(VM) language. in-fact we should be developing more natural language - programming languages and dispelling the more cryptic languages such as C# (Lol) and Java and Go and the like (so many brackets and semi colons / tabs etc - truly not needed!) and that is to say that we programmers still think in code! the journey as a AI developer crosses many domains. forces many off topic research pathways .. So Again a big YES! and we Still could say that ANy programming language can be used to create another programming language it just depends on which language you "THINK IN" .... hence not having too many languages using (i understand most programming languages - but i will always think in VB)...