Yet another language extension scheme

Abstract

Magnolia is an experimental programming language designed to try out novel language features. For a language to be a flexible basis for new constructs and language extensions, it will need a flexible compiler, one where new features can be prototyped with a minimum of effort. This paper proposes a scheme for compilation by transformation, in which the compilation process can be extended by the program being compiled. We achieve this by making a domain-specific transformation language for processing Magnolia programs, and embedding it into Magnolia itself. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.