Embedding Foreign Code

Abstract. Special purpose embedded languages facilitate generating high-performance code from purely functional high-level code; for example, we want to program highly parallel GPUs without the usual high barrier to entry and the time-consuming development process. We previously demonstrated the feasibility of a skeleton-based, generative approach to compiling such embedded languages. In this paper, we (a) describe our solution to some of the practical problems with skeleton-based code generation and (b) introduce our approach to enabling interoperability with native code. In particular, we show, in the context of a functional embedded language for GPU programming, how template meta programming simplifies code generation and optimisation. Furthermore, we present our design for a foreign function interface for an embedded language.