Code optimizations for lazy evaluation

Abstract

Implementations of lazy evaluation for nonstrict functional languages usually involve the notion of a delayed representation of the value of an expression, which we call athunk. We present several techniques for implementing thunks and formalize a class of optimizations that reduce both the space and time overhead of these techniques. The optimizations depend on a compile-time inferencing strategy calledpath analysis, a generalization of strictness analysis that uncovers order-of-evaluation information. Although the techniques in this paper are focused on the compilation of a nonstrict functional language for a conventional architecture, they are directly applicable to most of the virtual machines commonly used for implementing such languages. The same techniques also apply to other forms of delayed evaluation such asfutures andpromises.