[pypy-svn] r17852 - pypy/dist/pypy/doc

[arigo at codespeak.net]

Author: arigo
Date: Sun Sep 25 15:16:44 2005
New Revision: 17852

Modified:
   pypy/dist/pypy/doc/draft-dynamic-language-translation.txt
Log:
Writing.


Modified: pypy/dist/pypy/doc/draft-dynamic-language-translation.txt
==============================================================================
--- pypy/dist/pypy/doc/draft-dynamic-language-translation.txt	(original)
+++ pypy/dist/pypy/doc/draft-dynamic-language-translation.txt	Sun Sep 25 15:16:44 2005
@@ -339,14 +339,34 @@
 arguments.  Merely knowing that a variable will be used in an addition
 does not give much information per se.  For this reason, our annotator
 works by flowing annotations forward, operation after operation, i.e. by
-performing abstract interpretation of the flow graphs.  By contrast, the
-well-known `Hindley-Milner`_ type inference algorithm works in an
-inside-out direction, by starting from individual operations and
-propagating type constrains outwards.
+performing abstract interpretation of the flow graphs.  In a sense, it
+is a more naive approach than the one taken by type systems specifically
+designed to enable more advanced inference algorithms.  For example,
+`Hindley-Milner`_ type inference works in an inside-out direction, by
+starting from individual operations and propagating type constrains
+outwards.
+
+Naturally, simply propagating annotations forward requires the use of a
+fixpoint algorithm in the presence of loops in the flow graphs or in the
+inter-procedural call graph.  Indeed, we flow annotations forward from
+the beginning of the entry point function into each block, operation
+after operation, and follow all calls recursively.  During this process,
+each variable along the way gets an annotation.  In various cases,
+e.g. when we close a loop, the previously assigned annotations can be
+found to be too restrictive.  In this case, we generalize them to allow
+for a larger set of possible run-time values, and schedule the block
+where they appear for reflowing.  The more general annotations can
+generalize the annotations of the results of the variables in the block,
+which in turn can generalize the annotations that flow into the
+following blocks, and so on.  This process continues until a fixpoint is
+reached.
+
+We can consider that all variables are initially assigned the "bottom"
+annotation corresponding to an empty set of possible run-time values.
+Annotations can only ever be generalized, and the model is simple enough
+to show that there is no infinite chain of generalization, so that this
+process necessarily terminates, as we will show in the sequel.
 
-We use a fixpoint algorithm XXX
-
-XXX only generalizing and no infinite chain
 
 Annotation model
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@@ -358,6 +378,8 @@
 Prebuilt constants
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
+XXX
+
 Mutable objects
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~