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C++ Templates as Partial Evaluation
This paper explores the relationship between C++ templates and partial
evaluation. Templates were designed to support generic programming, but
unintentionally provided the ability to perform compile-time computations and
code generation. These features are completely accidental, and as a result
their syntax is awkward. By recasting these features in terms of partial
evaluation, a much simpler syntax can be achieved. C++ may be regarded as a
two-level language in which types are first-class values. Template
instantiation resembles an offline partial evaluator. This paper describes
preliminary work toward a single mechanism based on Partial Evaluation which
unifies generic programming, compile-time computation and code generation. The
language Catat is introduced to illustrate these ideas.Comment: 13 page
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