Re: question about comments in eval.c

[Marius Vollmer <mvo at zagadka dot ping dot de>]

sen_ml@eccosys.com writes:

> in libguile/eval.c, i found the following comment:
> 
>    Memoization of variables and special forms is done while executing
>    the code for the first time.
> 
> i think i understand what memoization of procedures and special forms
> means, but i don't understand what memoization of variables is
> supposed to mean.

Memoization in the context of the Guile evaluator means "converting
into a more efficient internal form".  You might be thinking of
"caching previously computed values of a function", like ice/poe.scm
provides.

For example, memoizing a reference to a global variable means
replacing the symbol in the code with a special construct that points
directly to the cell that holds the binding of the global variable.