Realistic compilation by partial evaluation

Abstract

Two key steps in the compilation of strict functional languages are the conversion of higher-order functions to data structures (closures) and the transformation to tail-recursive style. We show how to perform both steps at once by applying first-order offline partial evaluation to a suitable interpreter. The resulting code is easy to transliterate to low-level C or native code. We have implemented the compilation to C; it yields a performance comparable to that of other modern Scheme-to-C compilers. In addition, we have integrated various optimizations such as constant propagation, higher-order removal, and arity raising simply by modifying the underlying interpreter. Purely first-order methods suffice to achieve the transformations. Our approach is an instance of semantics-directed compiler generation. © 1996 ACM.