Modeling of functional language interpreter with metaprogramming

Abstract

The purpose of the research consists of modeling an interpreter for a functional programming language with metaprogramming capabilities and analyzing ways to implement primitive operators based on macros.Methods. A formal model of a functional language interpreter, which is a subset of Common Lisp, was developed with denotational semantics, which allows you to accurately describe the behavior of the interpreter when calculating language elements such as quoting, accessing variables, sequence of actions, branching, assignment, abstraction, application.Results. Based on denotational semantics, the architecture of a functional language interpreter with metaprogramming capabilities was developed. Numbers, symbols, pairs, strings and arrays were chosen as the basic types of objects. To store objects, a tag architecture was used, where the low-order bits of the object address are always zero, so they can store the object type code and the tag bit. Objects are allocated and freed automatically: a mark and cleanup algorithm is used for garbage collection. Using macros, branching operators, complete and incomplete, selection operator, and block operators of related variables were implemented. Conclusion. As a result of the work, a functional language interpreter with metaprogramming capabilities was implemented. Using macros, primitive operators of condition, selection, and a block of related variables were implemented. Using these operators as an example, it is shown that using metaprogramming, only basic forms and primitives can be built into the interpreter, and the other operators can be implemented using metaprogramming, which makes it possible to simplify and reduce the amount of interpreter code.