A practical solution for scripting language compilers

ABSTRACT

Although scripting languages are becoming increasingly popular, even mature scripting language implementations remain interpreted. Several compilers and reimplementations have been attempted, generally focusing on performance.

Based on our survey of these reimplementations, we determine that there are three important features of scripting languages that are difficult to compile or reimplement. Since scripting languages are defined primarily through the semantics of their original implementations, they often change semantics between releases. They provide large standard libraries, which are difficult to re-use, and costly to reimplement. They provide C APIs, used both for foreign-function-interfaces and to write third-party extensions. These APIs typically have tight integration with the original implementation. Finally, they support run-time code generation. These features make the important goal of correctness difficult to achieve.

We present a technique to support these features in an ahead-of-time compiler for PHP. Our technique uses the original PHP implementation through the provided C API, both in our compiler, and an our generated code. We support all of these important scripting language features, particularly focusing on the correctness of compiled programs. Additionally, our approach allows us to automatically support limited future language changes. We present a discussion and performance evaluation of this technique, which has not previously been published.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.3 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
      D.3.2 Language Classifications
          Subjects: Extensible languages

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.3 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
      D.3.4 Processors
          Subjects: Run-time environments; Interpreters; Compilers