A functional macro expansion system for optimizing code generation: gaining context-sensitivity without losing confluence

摘要

As the machine-specific macro assembles offer little support for hierarchical program abstraction, they are rather weak code-generator writing tools: reusable optimized code libraries cannot be easily constructed. The underlying reasson is the locak of modularity For instance, if some assembly macro M uses some register R as a temporary data storage, the programmer has to be most cautious when calling M: the macro expander is not able to issue a warning that the value possibly already stored in R will be lost during the execution of M. Clearly, this problem cannot be solved without context-sensitive macros.