The MAINSAIL project is part of the SUMEX Computer Project funded by the Biotechnology Resources Program, National Institutes of Health. Its basic goal is to provide a machine-independent programming system suitable for the development of large, portable programs. MAINSAIL is an ALGOL-like language with dynamic memory support for strings, arrays, records, modules and files. In this paper we give an overview of how portability is achieved, and of several approaches to code generation and execution. MAINSAIL, both a practical language and a research tool, provides a unique opportunity to evaluate alternative approaches to software portability.
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