Functions, types and expressions programming languages and their operational semantics compilation partial evaluation of a flow chart languages partial evaluation of a first-order functional languages the view from Olympus partial evaluation of the Lambda calculus partial evaluation of prolog aspects of Similix - a partial evaluator for a subset of scheme partial evaluation of C applications of partial evaluation termination of partial evaluation program analysis more general program transformation guide to the literature the self-applicable scheme specializer.

Partial evaluation and automatic program generation

The last years have witnessed a flurry of new results in the area of partial evaluation. These tutorial notes survey the field and present a critical assessment of the state of the art.

Tutorial notes on partial evaluation

Partial evaluation provides a unifying paradigm for a broad spectrum of work in program optimization compiling interpretation and the generation of automatic program generators [Bjorner et al. 1987; Ershov 1992; and Jones et al. 1993]. It is a program optimization technique, perhaps better called program specialization, closely related to but different from Jorring and Scherlis' staging transformations [1986]. It emphasizes, in comparison with Burstall and Darlington [1977] and Jorring and Scherlis [1986] and other program transformation work, full automation and the generation of program generators as well as transforming single programs. Much partial evaluation work to date has concerned automatic compiler generation from an interpretive definition of programming language, but it also has important applications to scientific computing, logic programming, metaprogramming, and expert systems; some pointers are given later.

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An introduction to partial evaluation

We present an overview of some techniques which have been proposed for the transformation of logic programs. We consider the so-called “rules + strategies” approach, and we address the following two issues: the correctness of some basic transformation rules w.r.t. a given semantics and the use of strategies for guiding the application of the rules and improving efficiency. We will also show through some examples the use and the power of the transformational approach, and we will briefly illustrate its relationship to other methodologies for program development.

Transformation of logic programs: Foundations and techniques☆

In this tutorial the specialisation of declarative logic programs is presented. The main correctness results are given, and the outline of a basic algorithm for partial evaluation of a logic program with respect to a goal. The practical considerations of gaining efficiency (and not losing any) are discussed. A renaming scheme for performing structure specialisation is then described, and illustrated on a well-known string matching example. The basic algorithm is enhanced by incorporating abstract interpretation. A two-phase specialisation is then described and illustrated, in which partial evaluation is followed by the detection and removal of useless clauses. This is shown for the specialisation of a proof procedure for first order logic. The specialisation of meta programs is very important in logic programming, and the ground representation for object programs has to be handled. Some techniques for doing this are described. Comparisons are made in the tutorial to similar work in other programming languages, and the similarities and differences between them and logic program specialisation is discussed.

Tutorial on specialisation of logic programs

An operational semantics of the Prolog programming language is introduced. Meta-IV is used to specify the semantics. One purpose of the work is to provide a specification of an implementation of a Prolog interpreter. Another one is an application of this specification to a formal description of program optimization techniques based on the principle of partial evaluation.Transformations which account for pruning, forward data structure propagation and opening (which also provides backward data structure propagation) are formally introduced and proved to preserve meaning of programs. The so defined transformations provide means to inference data structures in an applicative language. The theoretical investigation is then shortly related to research in rule-based systems and logic.An efficient well-integrated partial evaluation system is available in Qlog --- a Lisp programming environment for Prolog.

H. Jan Komorowski

Papers

Partial evaluation as a means for inferencing data structures in an applicative language: a theory and implementation in the case of prolog