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A Selective CPS Transformation
Lasse R. Nielsen July 2001 |
Abstract:
The CPS transformation makes all functions
continuation-passing, uniformly. Not all functions, however, need
continuations: they only do if their evaluation includes computational
effects. In this paper we focus on control operations, in particular ``call
with current continuation'' and ``throw''. We characterize this involvement
as a control effect and we present a selective CPS transformation that makes
functions and expressions continuation-passing if they have a control effect,
and that leaves the rest of the program in direct style. We formalize this
selective CPS transformation with an operational semantics and a simulation
theorem à la Plotkin
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