Create AUTHORS.md

1 files changed, 51 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/AUTHORS.md b/AUTHORS.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dfca4d659
--- /dev/null
+++ b/AUTHORS.md
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+The dotty compiler frontend has been developed since November 2012 by Martin Odersky. It is expected and hoped for 
+that the list of contributors to the codebase will grow quickly. Dotty draws inspiration and code from the original
+Scala compiler "nsc", which is developed at `scala/scala`. 
+
+The majority of the dotty codebase is new code, with the exception of the components listed below. We have for each component tried to 
+come up with a list of the original authors in the `scala/scala` codebase. Apologies if some major authors were omitted
+by oversight.
+
+`dotty.tools.dotc.ast`
+
+The syntax tree handling is mostly new, but some elements, such as the idea of tree copiers and the `TreeInfo` module, were adopted from `scala/scala`. 
+The original authors of these parts included Martin Odersky, Paul Phillips and Matthias Zenger.
+
+`dotty.tools.dotc.config`
+
+> The configuration components were adapted and extended from `scala/scala`. 
+> The original sources were authored by Paul Phillips with contributions from Martin Odersky, Miguel Garcia and others.
+  
+`dotty.tools.dotc.core`
+
+> The core data structures and operations are mostly new. Some parts (e.g. those dealing with names) were adapted from `scala/scala`. 
+> These were originally authored by Martin Odersky, Adriaan Moors, Jason Zaugg, Paul Phillips, Eugene Burmako and others.
+
+`dotty.tools.dotc.core.pickling`
+
+> The classfile readers were adapted from the Scala compiler. Original authors were Martin Odersky, Iulian Dragos, Matthias Zenger and others.
+
+`dotty.tools.dotc.parsing`
+
+> The lexical and syntactic analysis components were adapted from the Scala compiler. They were originally authored by Martin Odersky,
+> Burak Emir, Paul Phillips, Adriaan Moors, Lex Spoon, Sean McDermid and others.
+
+`dotty.tools.dotc.reporting`
+
+> Adapted from `scala/scala` with some heavy modifications. They were originally authored by Matthias Zenger, Martin Odersky, 
+and others.
+
+`dotty.tools.dotc.typer`
+
+> Some minor components (e.g. the ConstantFolder) were adapted from `scala/scala`. The rest is new.
+
+`dotty.tools.dotc.util`
+
+> The utilities package is a mix of new and adapted components. The files in `scala/scala` were originally authored by many people,
+> including Paul Phillips, Martin Odersky, Sean McDermid, and others.
+  
+`dotty.tools.io`   
+
+> The I/O support library was adapted from current Scala compiler. Original authors were Paul Phillips and others.
+
+