Compilers for nothing, executables for free!
summary
Claim: partial evaluation can take an interpreter plus a fixed program and produce a standalone executable, and further specializing the specializer yields a compiler for free. Example given: jamming a vimrc into vim to inline constants and unroll loops produces a smaller, faster residual vim. Tooling is specialiser and partial evaluation; historically fragile and slow but now practical with Futamura projections and systems like pie pie and truffle and garlic and lvm; previous attempts are hard but recent JIT work shows it works.
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chapters (7)
- 0:00Intro
- 0:27The Problem
- 1:41Partial Evaluation
- 3:26Interpreters vs Compilers
- 4:13Residual Programs
- 6:11Why
- 7:56Resources
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