Blog entries from Finnian Reilly (Page 1 of 6)
- 2026 May 30 by Finnian ReillyZig as an Intermediate Language for EiffelStudio
- Tags:
- dbc
- eiffelstudio
- eiffel
- software engineering
- code generation
- design by contract
- open source
- class invariants
- runtime performance
- systems programming
- Zig
- intermediate language
- compiler backend
- Melting Ice Technology
- incremental compilation
- LLVM
- C backend
- Andrew Kelley
- Zig Software Foundation
- cross compilation
- native compilation
- compiler design
- C macros
- comptime
- undefined behaviour
- frozen code
- finalised code
- bytecode interpreter
- virtual dispatch
- devirtualisation
- whole program optimisation
- zig cc
- .NET backend
- CLR
- assertion levels
- preconditions
- postconditions
- real time systems
- nonprofit
- programming language design
A Case for Replacing the C Backend — Discussion Paper for Review by Eiffel Software Engineering
See more... - 2026 May 22 by Finnian ReillyFinding a billion-user project for Eiffel: How DbC catches the security flaws that Rust misses
- Tags:
- dbc
- parser
- XML
- python
- open source
- Void Safety
- CVE
- Rust
- software safety
- Eiffel visibility
- libexpat
- xpact
- memory safety
- systems programming
- Eiffel strategy
- secure by design
The industry is currently celebrating Rust as a breakthrough in software safety. But Eiffel had a more complete answer to software correctness before Rust's creator was born. This essay argues that the moment has arrived for the Eiffel community to demonstrate that publicly — with a specific project, a real deployment strategy, and a compelling security argument.
See more... - 2024 Oct 16 by Finnian ReillyAutomated Object Data Compaction Revisited
Revisiting reflection mechanisms to automate the compaction of object data to an expanded numeric type
See more... - 2024 Oct 09 by Finnian ReillyPython and Eiffel: A Comparison in Conciseness
- Tags:
- python
- code conciseness
How Eiffel compares favourably to Python in terms of conciseness
See more... - 2024 Mar 16 by Finnian ReillyThe SPOT Architecture Applied to Class ARRAYED_LIST
- Tags:
- arrayed_list
- initializing attributes
- make routines
- initializing objects
- default attribute values
- SPOT
Why it is important to have a dedicated routine for initializing attributes
See more... - 2023 Dec 18 by Finnian ReillySeven Is A Magic Number: Why 7 Letter Codes Make Sense
- Tags:
- UUID
- unique codes
Why 7 Letter Codes Are Human Friendly
See more... - 2023 Dec 08 by Finnian ReillyCOBOL inspired numeric formatting for Eiffel
A way to specify numeric formatting in a visual manner
See more... - 2023 Oct 25 by Finnian ReillyAutomating Object Data Compaction to Expanded Numeric Types
Applying reflection mechanisms to automate the compaction of object data to an expanded numeric type
See more...