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Compiling Embedded Languages

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Book cover Semantics, Applications, and Implementation of Program Generation (SAIG 2000)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1924))

Abstract

Functional languages are particularly well-suited to the im- plementation of interpreters for domain-specific embedded languages (DSELs). We describe an implemented technique for producing optimiz- ing compilers for DSELs, based on Kamin’s idea of DSELs for program generation. The technique uses a data type of syntax for basic types, a set of smart constructors that perform rewriting over those types, some code motion transformations, and a back-end code generator. Domain- specific optimization results from chains of rewrites on basic types. New DSELs are defined directly in terms of the basic syntactic types, plus host language functions and tuples. This definition style makes compil- ers easy to write and, in fact, almost identical to the simplest embedded interpreters. We illustrate this technique with a language Pan for the computationally intensive domain of image synthesis and manipulation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Microsoft Research, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052, USA

    Conal Elliott & Sigbjørn Finne

  2. Oxford University Computing Laboratory Wolfson Building, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QD, England

    Oege de Moor

Authors
  1. Conal Elliott
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  2. Sigbjørn Finne
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  3. Oege de Moor
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science Eklandagatan 86, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Walid Taha

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© 2000 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Elliott, C., Finne, S., de Moor, O. (2000). Compiling Embedded Languages. In: Taha, W. (eds) Semantics, Applications, and Implementation of Program Generation. SAIG 2000. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1924. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45350-4_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45350-4_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-41054-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45350-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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