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The Multics Maclisp Compiler: The Basic Hackery – A Tutorial (1977)
Paper describing the internals of the Multics MACLISP compiler.
ExordiumGreat OverviewBasic Passes and RecursionsPass 1Multics Lisp Execution EnvironmentPass 2Value Management: An ExampleValue Management: In SummaryObject Code ListBranching and TagsBranching and Value ManagementPDL Height ManagementCompilation for PredicateObject Type StrategyAppendix A -- Value tag formsAppendix B -- NCOMPLR and LCPAppendix C -- Relevant Humor 29 February 1988 This paper is a reprint, an upgrade to "modern" computer typography and printing technology, of my unpublished, "bootleg" paper written ten years ago. Thus, when a tag is finally defined, the symbol which represents it has off of its references property a list of conses of the codelist, whose cars are instructions whose address fields must have the location counter at this time added to them 56. The pair of sentences indicated as bold above is found uproariously funny by many, on account of NCOMPLR's widespread, deserved notoriety as a program grown to stupendous complexity, well past the limits of human comprehension, let alone its own maintainabilty.
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