An_Automatic_Program_Generator_for_Multi-Level_Specialization.pdfVIP

LISP and Symbolic Computation 10, 113–158 (1997) c 1997 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Manufactured in The Netherlands. An Automatic Program Generator for Multi-Level Specialization ¨ ROBERT GLUCK glueck@diku.dk DIKU, Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 1, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark JESPER JØRGENSEN jesper@dina.kvl.dk Department of Mathematics and Physics, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark Abstract. Program specialization can divide a computation into several computation stages. This paper in- vestigates the theoretical limitations and practical problems of standard specialization tools, presents multi-level specialization, and demonstrates that, in combination with the cogen approach, it is far more practical than pre- viously supposed. The program generator which we designed and implemented for a higher-order functional language converts programs into very compact multi-level generating extensions that guarantee fast successive specialization. Experimental results show a remarkable reduction of generation time and generator size compared to previous attempts of multi-level specialization by self-application. Our approach to multi-level specialization seems well-suited for applications where generation time and program size are critical. Keywords: programming languages, program transformation, partial evaluation, generating extensions, binding- time analysis, functional languages, Scheme 1. Introduction Stages of computation arise naturally in many programs, depending on the availability of