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Sat Jan 2 10:44:40 CET 2010

CPS and `if'

Indeed: it needs two control points: before and after the evaluation
of the condition.

(if a b c) -> 

(if (a (lambda (v) (b k))
       (lambda (v) (c k))))

Looks like CPS by itself isn't the problem.  Representing the
resulting functional continuations as data is.

Here defunctionalization comes in: replace each lamba with a call to
apply.

(lambda (v) (b k))

-> (apply (Lambdaxxx v))


In the Danvy paper[1] representation as closures and
defunctionalization are mentioned as separate approaches to
representing higher order functions:

* Closures: capture code pointers together with an environment
  representing the free variable bindings.

* Defunctionalization: represent a higher order function as a data
  structure containing the free variables.

* Combinators: translate a program into combinators (which eliminates
  variable names) and use graph reduction.


[1] http://www.brics.dk/RS/01/23/

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