Mapping software architectures to efficient implementations via partial evaluation. Rapport de recherche RR-3217

Flexibility is recognized as a key feature in structuring software, and many architectures have been designed to that effect. However, they often come with performance and code size overhead, resulting in a flexibility vs. efficiency dilemma. The source of inefficiency in software architec-tures can be identified in the data and control integration of components, because flexibility is present not only at the design level but also in the implementation. We propose the use of program specialization in soft-ware engineering as a systematic way to improve perfor-mance and, in some cases, to reduce program size. In par-ticular, we advocate the use of partial evaluation, which is an automatic technique to produce efficient, specialized in-stances of generic programs. We study several representa-tive, flexible mechanisms found in software architectures: selective broadcast, pattern matching, interpreters, layers, and generic libraries. We show how partial evaluation can systematically be applied in order to optimize those mecha-nisms. 1