Procedure linkage optimization working paper

Abstract

This paper discusses the desirability of procedure linkage optimization and sketches a general theory of interpretive semantics which is motivated by technical problems in specifying and validating program transformations that optimize procedure linkages. One particular transformation is treated in detail. Recursive ALGOL 60 procedures sometimes pass parameters by name in such a way that the general thunk mechanism is unnecessary and inefficient. We present an optimization which detects this kind of call-by-name and implements it thunklessly. We prove that the transformation preserves semantics and we discuss the effect on running time and memory management.