README

                        The Quick C-- Compiler

     ``A new perspective on programming-language infrastructure''
                                                         
(The Quick C-- compiler was retired in 2007 or thereabouts.
It is no longer maintained.)

This directory contains the source code for Quick C--.  If you write a
compiler that emits C--, we'll turn your C-- into efficient machine
code.  More information can be found at http://www.cs.tufts.edu/~nr/c--.

To build the compiler from source code, see the INSTALL document.  For
the curious, the INSTALL document also contains some information about
how the source code is organized.

Once the compiler is built, to make effective use of it, you should
read the release notes in doc/release.ps.  The notes describe what
parts of the C-- specification are and are not currently supported.
You can also try `man qc--'.  Quick C-- is still under development, so
if there is a feature you need, please ask for it.

The name `Quick C--' belongs to us, but the code is available free for
any use in any field of endeavor.  You may redistribute Quick C-- in
whole or in part.  We ask that, as a matter of courtesy, you
acknowledge its source and include this README file.  You may modify
Quick C-- and create derived works, with which you may do as you like,
but the result may not be called Quick C-- without written consent.

We want absolutely everyone to be able to use Quick C-- with
confidence.  To that end, the software is placed in the public domain.
It is not protected by copyright, and it is not protected by a
``copyleft'' agreement like the one used by the Free Software
Foundation.