Re: Smart variables, dumb variables

[Rob Browning]

Marius Vollmer <address@hidden> writes:

> A future execution model (that is slowly forming in my head) will
> make it so that most variable flags can be tested at compile time.
> Thus, a compiler can emit more efficient code for dumb variables.

Are you thinking about testing the flags on the C side or on the
Scheme side, and if you have more thoughts (even preliminary ones)
about how the compile time tests would work, could you elaborate?  I'm
trying to get a picture in my head of how all this might work
internally, and how it might look in the external API so I can think
about it.  I was also trying to imagine any potential interactions
with the various potential forms of compilation we might consider in
the future (i.e. Scheme -> C, for example).

(only marginally-relevant aside: anyone know the status of C inline
 functions these days -- do other non-gcc compilers support them, do
 we compile under non-gcc compilers, etc.?)

Thanks

-- 
Rob Browning
rlb @defaultvalue.org, @linuxdevel.com, and @debian.org
Previously @cs.utexas.edu
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