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An investigation of Jones optimality and BTI-universal specializers

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Higher-Order and Symbolic Computation

Abstract

Jones optimality implies that a program specializer is strong enough to remove an entire level of self-interpretation. This paper argues that Jones optimality, which was originally devised as a criterion for self-applicable specializers, plays a fundamental role in the use of a binding-time improvement prepass prior to specialization. We establish that, regardless of the binding-time improvements applied to a subject program (no matter how extensively), a specializer that is not Jones-optimal is strictly weaker than a specializer that is Jones-optimal. We describe the main approaches that increase the strength of a specializer without requiring its modification, namely incremental specialization and the interpretive approach, and show that they are equally powerful when the specializer is bti-universal. Since this includes the generation of program specializers from interpreters, the theoretical possibility of bootstrapping powerful specializers is established.

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  1. DIKU, Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 1, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Robert Glück

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Glück, R. An investigation of Jones optimality and BTI-universal specializers. Higher-Order Symb Comput 21, 283–309 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10990-008-9033-5

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