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Thunk (delayed Computation)
In computer programming, a thunk is a subroutine used to inject a calculation into another subroutine. Thunks are primarily used to delay a calculation until its result is needed, or to insert operations at the beginning or end of the other subroutine. They have many other applications in compiler code generation and modular programming. The term originated as a whimsical irregular form of the verb ''think''. It refers to the original use of thunks in ALGOL 60 compilers, which required special analysis (thought) to determine what type of routine to generate. Background The early years of compiler research saw broad experimentation with different evaluation strategies. A key question was how to compile a subroutine call if the arguments can be arbitrary mathematical expressions rather than constants. One approach, known as "call by value", calculates all of the arguments before the call and then passes the resulting values to the subroutine. In the rival "call by name" approa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Programming
Computer programming is the process of performing a particular computation (or more generally, accomplishing a specific computing result), usually by designing and building an executable computer program. Programming involves tasks such as analysis, generating algorithms, profiling algorithms' accuracy and resource consumption, and the implementation of algorithms (usually in a chosen programming language, commonly referred to as coding). The source code of a program is written in one or more languages that are intelligible to programmers, rather than machine code, which is directly executed by the central processing unit. The purpose of programming is to find a sequence of instructions that will automate the performance of a task (which can be as complex as an operating system) on a computer, often for solving a given problem. Proficient programming thus usually requires expertise in several different subjects, including knowledge of the application domain, specialized algori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Source Code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source code. The source code is often transformed by an assembler or compiler into binary machine code that can be executed by the computer. The machine code is then available for execution at a later time. Most application software is distributed in a form that includes only executable files. If the source code were included it would be useful to a user, programmer or a system administrator, any of whom might wish to study or modify the program. Alternatively, depending on the technology being used, source code may be interpreted and executed directly. Definitions Richard Stallman's definition, formulated in his 1989 seminal li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Address Space
In computing, an address space defines a range of discrete addresses, each of which may correspond to a network host, peripheral device, disk sector, a memory cell or other logical or physical entity. For software programs to save and retrieve stored data, each datum must have an address where it can be located. The number of address spaces available depends on the underlying address structure, which is usually limited by the computer architecture being used. Often an address space in a system with virtual memory corresponds to a highest level translation table, e.g., a segment table in IBM System/370. Address spaces are created by combining enough uniquely identified qualifiers to make an address unambiguous within the address space. For a person's physical address, the ''address space'' would be a combination of locations, such as a neighborhood, town, city, or country. Some elements of a data address space may be the same, but if any element in the address is different, addres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CPU Modes
CPU modes (also called ''processor modes,'' ''CPU states,'' ''CPU privilege levels'' and other names) are operating modes for the central processing unit of some computer architectures that place restrictions on the type and scope of operations that can be performed by certain processes being run by the CPU. This design allows the operating system to run with more privileges than application software. Ideally, only highly trusted kernel code is allowed to execute in the unrestricted mode; everything else (including non-supervisory portions of the operating system) runs in a restricted mode and must use a system call (via interrupt) to request the kernel perform on its behalf any operation that could damage or compromise the system, making it impossible for untrusted programs to alter or damage other programs (or the computing system itself). In practice, however, system calls take time and can hurt the performance of a computing system, so it is not uncommon for system designers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calling Convention
In computer science, a calling convention is an implementation-level (low-level) scheme for how subroutines or functions receive parameters from their caller and how they return a result. When some code calls a function, design choices have been taken for where and how parameters are passed to that function, and where and how results are returned from that function, with these transfers typically done via certain registers or within certain structures within the call stack. There are design choices for how the tasks of preparing for a function call and restoring the environment after the function call are divided between the caller and the callee. Some calling convention specifies the way every function should get called. Introduction Calling conventions are usually considered part of the Application Binary Interface ''ABI''. Calling conventions may be related to a particular programming language's evaluation strategy, but most often are not considered part of it (or vic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Procedural Parameter
In computing, a procedural parameter is a parameter of a procedure that is itself a procedure. This concept is an extremely powerful and versatile programming tool, because it allows programmers to modify certain steps of a library procedure in arbitrarily complicated ways, without having to understand or modify the code of that procedure. This tool is particularly effective and convenient in languages that support local function definitions, such as Pascal and the modern GNU dialect of C. It is even more so when function closures are available. The same functionality (and more) is provided by objects in object oriented programming languages, but at a significantly higher cost. Procedural parameters are somewhat related to the concepts of first-class function and anonymous function, but is distinct from them. These two concepts have more to do with how functions are defined, rather than how they are used. Basic concept In most languages that provide this feature, a proce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
OOPSLA
OOPSLA (Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages & Applications) is an annual ACM research conference. OOPSLA mainly takes place in the United States, while the sister conference of OOPSLA, ECOOP, is typically held in Europe. It is operated by the Special Interest Group for Programming Languages (SIGPLAN) group of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). OOPSLA is an annual conference covering topics related to object-oriented programming systems, languages and applications. Like other conferences, OOPSLA offers various tracks and many simultaneous sessions, and thus has a different meaning to different people. It is an academic conference, and draws doctoral students who present peer-reviewed papers. It also draws a number of non-academic attendees, many of whom present experience reports and conduct panels, workshops and tutorials. OOPSLA has been instrumental in helping object-oriented programming develop into a mainstream programming paradigm. It has also helpe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
This (computer Programming)
this, self, and Me are keywords used in some computer programming languages to refer to the object, class, or other entity of which the currently running code is a part. The entity referred to by these keywords thus depends on the execution context (such as which object is having its method called). Different programming languages use these keywords in slightly different ways. In languages where a keyword like "this" is mandatory, the keyword is the only way to access data and methods stored in the current object. Where optional, they can disambiguate variables and functions with the same name. Object-oriented programming In many object-oriented programming languages, this (also called self or Me) is a variable that is used in instance methods to refer to the object on which they are working. The first OO language, SIMULA 67, used this to explicitly reference the local object. C++ and languages which derive in style from it (such as Java, C#, D, and PHP) also generally use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dispatch Table
In computer science, a dispatch table is a table of pointers or memory addresses to functions or methods. Use of such a table is a common technique when implementing late binding in object-oriented programming. Perl implementation The following shows one way to implement a dispatch table in Perl, using a hash to store references to code (also known as function pointers). # Define the table using one anonymous code-ref and one named code-ref my %dispatch = ( "-h" => sub , "-g" => \&say_goodbye ); sub say_goodbye # Fetch the code ref from the table, and invoke it my $sub = $dispatch; print $sub ? $sub->() : "unknown argument\n"; Running this Perl program as perl greet -h will produce "hello", and running it as perl greet -g will produce "goodbye". JavaScript implementation Following is a demo of implementing dispatch table in JavaScript: var thingsWeCanDo = ; var doSomething = function(doWhat) Virtual method tables In object-oriented programming langua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Method (computer Programming)
A method in object-oriented programming (OOP) is a procedure associated with a message and an object. An object consists of ''state data'' and ''behavior''; these compose an ''interface'', which specifies how the object may be utilized by any of its various consumers. A method is a behavior of an object parametrized by a consumer. Data is represented as properties of the object, and behaviors are represented as methods. For example, a Window object could have methods such as open and close, while its state (whether it is open or closed at any given point in time) would be a property. In class-based programming, methods are defined within a class, and objects are instances of a given class. One of the most important capabilities that a method provides is ''method overriding'' - the same name (e.g., area) can be used for multiple different kinds of classes. This allows the sending objects to invoke behaviors and to delegate the implementation of those behaviors to the receiving o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multiple Inheritance
Multiple inheritance is a feature of some object-oriented computer programming languages in which an object or class can inherit features from more than one parent object or parent class. It is distinct from single inheritance, where an object or class may only inherit from one particular object or class. Multiple inheritance has been a controversial issue for many years, with opponents pointing to its increased complexity and ambiguity in situations such as the "diamond problem", where it may be ambiguous as to which parent class a particular feature is inherited from if more than one parent class implements said feature. This can be addressed in various ways, including using virtual inheritance. Alternate methods of object composition not based on inheritance such as mixins and traits have also been proposed to address the ambiguity. Details In object-oriented programming (OOP), ''inheritance'' describes a relationship between two classes in which one class (the ''child'' class ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
