USING CLOSURES FOR CODE GENERATION

This paper describes a new approach to compiling which is based on the extensive use of closures. In this method, a compiled expression is embodied by a closure whose application performs the evaluation of the given expression. For each primitive construct contained in the expression to compile, a closure is generated. As a whole, the compiled expression consists of a network of these closures. In a way, 'code generation' is replaced by 'closure generation'. This method, combined with an efficient closure implementation, produces compiled code which compares favorably (in execution time) with its interpreted counter-part. It can also be used to implement compilers for embedded languages and as it has been implemented in Scheme, it yields a straightforward metacircular compiler for Scheme.