Computing with Register Machines
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Questions
According to the principles of designing a register machine, what are the two fundamental components that must be designed?
View answer and explanationIn the register machine designed to compute the greatest common divisor (GCD) using Euclid's Algorithm, what is the specific purpose of the register named 't'?
View answer and explanationWhat data structure is identified as a crucial mechanism for implementing recursive processes, like the factorial function, on a register machine with a fixed number of components?
View answer and explanationIn the register machine for the recursive factorial function, which registers are explicitly saved on the stack before a recursive call is made?
View answer and explanationThe `make_new_machine` function constructs a basic machine model. According to Section 5.2.1, what two registers are initially included in this model's register table?
View answer and explanationIn the implementation of list-structured memory using vectors, how is a pointer to a pair represented?
View answer and explanationWhat is the basic principle of the stop-and-copy garbage collection algorithm described in the chapter?
View answer and explanationIn the explicit-control evaluator, which register is used to hold the environment in which an evaluation is to be performed?
View answer and explanationWhat feature of the explicit-control evaluator's design allows it to be tail-recursive?
View answer and explanationWhat is the primary distinction between the execution strategies of interpretation and compilation as presented in the chapter?
View answer and explanationWithin the compiler's design, what does a linkage descriptor of 'return' signify for the generated code?
View answer and explanationTo support a more powerful subroutine mechanism, the register-machine language is extended. How is the `go_to` instruction modified to support this?
View answer and explanationIn the context of the stop-and-copy garbage collector, what is a 'broken heart'?
View answer and explanationWhen the explicit-control evaluator is processing a conditional expression, why must the 'env' register be saved before evaluating the predicate?
View answer and explanationIn the compiled code for the recursive factorial function shown in Figure 5.17, what is the first instruction executed at the function's entry point, labeled 'entry1'?
View answer and explanationHow does the 'pair' operation get implemented in the register machine model that uses a vector-based memory with a 'free' register?
View answer and explanationIn the explicit-control evaluator, what is the purpose of the 'unev' register?
View answer and explanationWhat is the primary efficiency advantage of compilation over interpretation as discussed in the text?
View answer and explanationIn the compiler's `preserving` function, when are `save` and `restore` instructions actually generated for a register?
View answer and explanationWhat is the role of the `flag` register in the simulated register machine?
View answer and explanationHow is a `save(reg)` instruction implemented in the model where the stack is represented as a list pointed to by the `the_stack` register?
View answer and explanationWhat is the role of the 'root' register in the stop-and-copy garbage collector?
View answer and explanationIn the controller for the recursive Fibonacci machine (Figure 5.12), why is the `val` register saved before the second recursive call (`go_to(label("fib_loop"))`) but not before the first?
View answer and explanationHow does the assembler, described in Section 5.2.2, resolve references to labels in the controller code?
View answer and explanationIn the compiler implementation, what three pieces of information are contained within an instruction sequence data structure?
View answer and explanationHow does the explicit-control evaluator handle the evaluation of a sequence of statements?
View answer and explanationWhat is the key difference in how the compiler and the interpreter handle the function expression part of an application like `f(96, 22)` where `f` is a name?
View answer and explanationIn the stop-and-copy garbage collection algorithm, what is the purpose of the 'scan' pointer?
View answer and explanationHow does the explicit-control evaluator apply a compound (non-primitive) function?
View answer and explanationAccording to footnote 37 in Section 5.5, why can the machine that runs compiled code be simpler than the interpreter machine?
View answer and explanationWhat is the function of the `continue` register in the register machines described for implementing subroutines and recursion?
View answer and explanationIn the stop-and-copy garbage collector's main loop, what condition signals that the collection process is complete?
View answer and explanationWhy does the `compile_lambda_expression` function in the compiler generate code for the function body immediately after the code for constructing the function object?
View answer and explanationWhat is the primary purpose of lexical addressing as a compiler optimization?
View answer and explanationIn the explicit-control evaluator, how is a primitive function application handled at the `primitive_apply` label?
View answer and explanationThe assembler uses the function `extract_labels` to process the controller list. What two values does this function effectively return to its continuation (`receive`)?
View answer and explanationAccording to the instruction summary in Section 5.1.5, which instruction is used to pop a value from the stack and place it into a register?
View answer and explanationIn the vector-based memory representation, what is used to distinguish a pointer to a pair from a pointer to a number or other data type?
View answer and explanationWhen compiling a conditional expression, why does the `preserving` function save the `env` and `continue` registers around the code for the predicate?
View answer and explanationWhat is the key functional difference between the register machine instructions `branch` and `go_to`?
View answer and explanationIn the explicit-control evaluator, how does the machine handle a return from a function if the function body terminates without executing a `return` statement?
View answer and explanationHow many registers are specified for the explicit-control evaluator machine described in Section 5.4?
View answer and explanationWhat is the purpose of the `revert_stack_to_marker` instruction used in the explicit-control evaluator and compiler?
View answer and explanationIn the GCD machine with a user interface (Figure 5.4), what kind of instruction is used to handle printing the result?
View answer and explanationWhen compiling the expression `f(g("x"), y)`, which registers must the compiler's `preserving` mechanism save around the code for the `g("x")` sub-expression?
View answer and explanationIn the design of the explicit-control evaluator, which two registers are used to hold the result of `scan_out_declarations` and the corresponding list of `*unassigned*` values during the evaluation of a block?
View answer and explanationHow many times will `vector_set` be called to implement the instruction `assign(reg1, list(op("pair"), reg(reg2), reg(reg3)))` in the vector-based memory model?
View answer and explanationWhat is the key problem with implementing a recursive function like `factorial` by simply decrementing the `n` register and re-running the machine from the beginning?
View answer and explanationIn the context of interfacing compiled code with the evaluator, how is the evaluator modified to handle calls to compiled functions?
View answer and explanationAccording to the analysis in Section 5.5.7, how did the number of stack pushes for computing factorial(5) compare between the interpreted and compiled versions?
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