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Tail recursion without space leaks

Part of: JFP Research Articles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Richard Jones
Richard Jones
Affiliation:
Computing Laboratory, University of Kent at Canterbury, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NF, UK (rej@ukc.ac.uk)
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Abstract

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The G-machine (Johnsson, 1987; Peyton Jones, 1987) is a compiled graph reduction machine for lazy functional languages. The G-machine compiler contains many optimizations to improve performance. One set of such optimizations is designed to improve the performance of tail recursive functions. Unfortunately, the abstract machine is subject to a space leak—objects are unnecessarily preserved by the garbage collector. This paper analyses why a particular form of space leak occurs in the G-machine, and presents some ideas for fixing this problem. This phenomena in other abstract machines is also examined briefly.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Functional Programming , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , January 1992 , pp. 73 - 79
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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