[pypy-svn] extradoc extradoc: write background and start intro

[cfbolz]

Author: Carl Friedrich Bolz <cfbolz at gmx.de>
Branch: extradoc
Changeset: r3400:e8428297679f
Date: 2011-03-24 21:58 +0100
http://bitbucket.org/pypy/extradoc/changeset/e8428297679f/

Log:	write background and start intro

diff --git a/talk/icooolps2011/paper.tex b/talk/icooolps2011/paper.tex
--- a/talk/icooolps2011/paper.tex
+++ b/talk/icooolps2011/paper.tex
@@ -83,9 +83,25 @@
 %___________________________________________________________________________
 \section{Introduction}
 
-XXX how exactly
-the hints work that interpreter authors can use to improve the execution speed
-of the programs running on their interpreters?
+One of the hardest parts of implementing a dynamic language efficiently is to
+optimize its object model. This is made harder by the fact that many recent
+languages such as Python, JavaScript or Ruby have rather complex core object
+semantics. For them, implementing just an interpreter is already an arduous
+task. Implementing them efficiently with a just-in-time compiler is
+nigh-impossible, because or their many corner-cases.
+
+long dream of PE to not have to implement a compiler
+new life by meta-tracers, spur, pypy, other things
+trace execution of object model and get semantics right, not have to compile
+object model
+
+in spur and pypy, this can be improved by the interpreter author by adding
+hints, which influence tracer and optimizer
+
+pypy's hints go further than spurs, in this paper we present two very important
+ones and show how classical implementation techniques of dynlangs can be
+expressed by them
+
 
 
 \section{Background}
@@ -94,20 +110,45 @@
 \subsection{The PyPy Project}
 \label{sect:pypy}
 
-PyPy's approach to implementing dynamic
-languages is to write an interpreter for
-the language in RPython. This interpreter can be translated to C and then
-further to machine code. The interpreter consists of code in the form of a
-large number of generated C functions and some data. Similarly, the user
-program consists of functions in the language the interpreter executes.
+The PyPy project \cite{armin_rigo_pypys_2006} strives to be an environment where
+complex dynamic languages can be efficiently implemented. The approach taken
+when implement a language with PyPy is to write an interpreter for the language
+in \emph{RPython}. RPython is a restricted subset of Python chosen in such a way
+that it is possible to perform type inference on it. The interpreters in RPython
+can therefore be translated to efficient C code.
 
-XXX \cite{armin_rigo_pypys_2006}
+A number of languages have been implemented with PyPy, most importantly a full
+Python implementation, but also a Prolog interpreter \cite{XXX} and a Smalltalk
+VM \cite{XXX}.
 
+This translation to C code adds a number of implementation details into the
+final executable that are not present in the interpreter implementation, such as
+a garbage collector. The interpreter can therefore be kept free from low-level
+implementation details. Another aspect of the final VM that is added
+semi-automatically to the generated VM is a tracing JIT compiler.
+
+We call the code that runs on top of an interpreter implemented with PyPy the
+\emph{user code} or \emph{user program}.
 
 %___________________________________________________________________________
 \subsection{PyPy's Meta-Tracing JIT Compilers}
 \label{sect:tracing}
 
+XXX citations
+A recently popular approach to JIT compilers is that of tracing JITs. Tracing
+JITs record traces of concrete execution paths through the program. Those traces
+are therefore linear list of operations, which are optimized and then get turned
+into machine code. To be able to do this recording, VMs with a tracing JIT
+typically also contain an interpreter. After a user program is started the
+interpreter is used until the most important paths through the user program are
+turned into machine code.
+
+Because the traces always correspond to a concrete execution they cannot contain
+any control flow splits. Therefore they encode the control flow decisions needed
+to stay on the trace with the help of \emph{guards}. Those are operations that
+check that the assumptions are still true when the trace is later executed with different values.
+
+One disadvantage of tracing JITs which makes them not directly applicable to Pypy,
 
 PyPy's JIT is a meta-tracer \cite{bolz_tracing_2009}. Since we want to re-use
 our tracer for a variety of languages, we
@@ -135,6 +176,9 @@
 of the interpreter. However, the extent of the trace is determined by the loops
 in the user program.
 
+XXX trace makes the object model operations explicit and transparent to the
+optimizer
+
 \subsection{Optimizing Traces}
 \label{sub:optimizing}