Abstract

We describe a new language translation framework (partial translation) and the application of one of its instances: the C-ification of Binary Prolog. Our partial translation framework compiles selected sequences of emulator instructions down to native code. The technique can be seen as an automatic specialization with respect to a given program of the traditional instruction folding techniques used to speed-up emulators. In our implementation, the complex control structure, some large instructions and the management of the symbol table are left to the emulator while the translated code deals with relatively long sequences of simple instructions. After compilation, the generated code is linked with a target language representation of the emulator's byte-code and the emulator itself to form a stand-alone application. The composite runtime system's behavior can be seen as a form of `coroutining' between emulated and native code. The framework supports modular compilation, allows programm...

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