Adaptive Evaluation of Non-Strict Programs (2004)
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@TECHREPORT{Ennals04adaptiveevaluation,
author = {Robert J. Ennals},
title = {Adaptive Evaluation of Non-Strict Programs},
institution = {},
year = {2004}
}
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Abstract
Most popular programming languages are strict. In a strict language, the binding of a variable to an expression coincides with the evaluation of the expression. Non-strict languages attempt to make life easier for programmers by decoupling expression binding and expression evaluation. In a non-strict language, a variable can be bound to an unevaluated expression, and such expressions can be passed around just like values in a strict language. This separation allows the programmer to declare a variable at the point that makes most logical sense, rather than at the point at which its value is known to be needed. Non-strict languages are usually evaluated using a technique called Lazy Evaluation. Lazy Evaluation will only evaluate an expression when its value is known to be needed. While Lazy Evaluation minimises the total number of expressions evaluated, it imposes a considerable bookkeeping overhead, and has unpredictable space behaviour. In this thesis, we present a new evaluation strategy which we call Optimistic Evaluation. Optimistic Evaluation blends lazy and eager evaluation under the guidance of an online profiler. The online profiler observes the running program and decides which expressions should
