Chapter 1

About mzc

1.1  mzc Is...

The mzc compiler takes MzScheme (or MrEd) source code and produces either platform-independent byte-code compiled files (.zo files) or platform-specific native-code libraries (.so or .dll files) to be loaded into MzScheme (or MrEd). In the latter mode, mzc provides limited suport for interfacing directly to C libraries.

mzc works on either individual files or on collections. (A collection is a group of files that conform to MzScheme's library collection system; see section 16 in PLT MzScheme: Language Manual). In general, mzc works best with code using the module form.

As a convenience for programmers writing low-level MzScheme extensions, mzc can compile and link plain C files that use MzScheme's escheme.h header. This facility is described in Inside PLT MzScheme.

Finally, mzc can perform miscellaneous tasks, such as embedding Scheme code in a copy of the MzScheme (or MrEd) binary to produce a stand-alone executable, or creating .plt distribution archives.

1.1.1  Byte-Code Compilation

A byte-code file typically uses the file extension .zo. The file starts with #~ followed by the byte-code data.

Byte-code files are loaded into MzScheme in the same way as regular Scheme source files (e.g., with load). The #~ marker causes MzScheme's reader to load byte codes instead of normal Scheme expressions. When a .zo file exists in a compiled subdirectory, it is sometimes loaded in place of a source file; see section 3.3 for details.

Byte-code programs produced by mzc run exactly the same as source code compiled by MzScheme directly (assuming the same set of bindings are in place at compile time and load time). In other words, byte-code compilation does not optimize the code any more than MzScheme's normal evaluator. However, a byte-code file can be loaded into MzScheme much faster than a source-code file.

1.1.2  Native-Code Compilation

A native-code file is a platform-specific shared library. Under Windows, native-code files typically use the extension .dll. Under Unix and MacOS, native-code files typically use the extension .so.

Native-code files are loaded into MzScheme with the load-extension procedure (see section 14.7 in PLT MzScheme: Language Manual). When a native-code file exists in a compiled subdirectory, it is sometimes loaded in place of a source file; see section 3.3 for details.

The native-code compiler attempts to optimize a source program so that it runs faster than the source-code or byte-code version of the program. See section 1.4 for information on obtaining the best possible performance from mzc-compiled programs.

The cffi.ss library of the compiler collection defines Scheme forms, such as c-lambda, for accessing C functions from Scheme. The forms produce run-time errors when interpreted directly or compiled to byte code. See section 2 for further information.

Native-code compilation produces C source code in an intermediate stage; your system must provide an external C compiler to produce native code. The mzc compiler cannot produce native code directly from Scheme code.

• Under Unix, gcc is used as the C compiler if it can be found in any of the directories listed in the PATH environment variable. If gcc is not found, cc is used if it can be found.

• Under Windows, cl.exe, Microsoft Visual C, is used as the C compiler if it can be found in any of the directories listed in the PATH environment variable. If cl.exe is not found, then gcc.exe is used if it can be found. If neither cl.exe nor gcc.exe is found, then bcc32.exe (Borland) is used if it can be found.

• Under MacOS, Metrowerks CodeWarrior is used as the C compiler if it can be found.

Except for MacOS, the C compiler and compiler flags used by mzc can be adjusted via command line flags.

1.2  mzc Is Not...

mzc does not generally produce stand-alone executables from Scheme source code. The compiler's output is intended to be loaded into MzScheme (or MrEd or DrScheme). However, see also section 5 for information about embedding code into a copy of the MzScheme (or MrEd) executable.

mzc does not translate Scheme code into similar C code. Native-code compilation produces C code that relies on MzScheme to provide run-time support, which includes memory management, closure creation, procedure application, and primitive operations.

1.3  Running mzc

Under Unix and Windows, run mzc from a shell, passing in flags and arguments on the command line.

Under MacOS, double-click on the mzc launcher application with the Command key pressed, then provide arguments in the command line dialog that appears. (Close the MzScheme application first if it is already running, since mzc is itself a MzScheme-based application.) If the Command key is not pressed while mzc is started, the command-line dialog will not appear. If a file is dragged onto the mzc icon, then the command-line will contain the file's path; this is useful for compiling a Scheme file directly to an extension. If a file is dragged onto the mzc icon, additional command-line argument can be provided by holding down the Command key, but the arguments will go after the file name, which is almost never useful (since the order of command-line arguments is important).

In this manual, each example command line is shown as follows:

mzc --extension --prefix macros.ss file.ss

To run this example under Unix or Windows, type the command line into a shell (replacing mzc with the path to mzc on your system, if necessary). Under MacOS, launch mzc with the Command key pressed, and enter everything after mzc into the dialog that appears.

Simple on-line help is available for mzc's command-line arguments by running mzc with the -h or --help flag.

1.4  Native Code Optimization from mzc

Compiling a program to native code with mzc can provide significant speedups compared to interpreting byte code (or running the program directly from source code), but only for certain kinds of programs. The speedup from native-code compilation is typically due to two optimizations:

• Loop Optimization -- When mzc statically detects a tail-recursive loop, it compiles the Scheme loop to a C loop that has no interpreter overhead. For example, given the program

  (letrec ([odd (lambda (x)   (if (zero? x)   #f   (even (sub1 x))))]   [even (lambda (x)   (if (zero? x)   #t   (odd (sub1 x))))])   (odd 40000))

  mzc can detect the odd-even loop and produce native code that runs twice as fast as byte-code interpretation. In contrast, given a similar program using top-level definitions,

  (define (odd x) ...)  (define (even x) ...)

  the compiler cannot assume an odd-even loop, because the global variables odd and even can be redefined at any time. Note that defined variables in a module expression are lexically scoped like letrec variables, and module definitions therefore permit loop optimizations.¹

• Primitive Inlining -- When mzc encounters the application of certain primitives, it inlines the primitive procedure. However, the compiler must be certain that a variable reference will resolve to a primitive procedure when the code is loaded into MzScheme. In the preceding example, the compiler cannot inline the application of sub1 because the global variable sub1 might be redefined. To encourage the inlining of primitives -- which produces native code that runs 30 times faster than byte-code interpretation for the preceding example -- the programmer has three options:

  • Use module -- If the original example is encapsulated in a module that imports mzscheme, then each primitive name, such as sub1, is guranteed to access the primitive procedure (assuming that the name is not lexically bound). The ``modulized'' version of the preceding program follows:

    	(module oe mzscheme   (letrec ([odd (lambda (x)   (if (zero? x)   #f   (even (sub1 x))))]   [even (lambda (x)   (if (zero? x)   #t   (odd (sub1 x))))])   (odd 40000)))

    To run this program, the oe module must be required at the top level.

• Use a (require mzscheme) prefix -- If the preceding example is prefixed with (require mzscheme), then sub1 refers not to the global variable, but to the sub1 export of the mzscheme module. See section 3.2 for more information about prefixing compilation.

• Use the --prim flag -- The --prim flag alters the semantics of the langugage for compilation such that every reference to a global variable that is built into MzScheme is converted to its keyword form. Actually, specifying the --prim flag causes mzc to automatically prefix the program with (require mzscheme).

Programs that permit these optimizations also to encourage a host of other optimizations, such as procedure inlining (for programmer-defined procedures) and static closure detection. In general, module-based programs provide the most opportunities for optimization.

Native-code compilation rarely produces significant speedup for programs that are not loop-intensive, programs that are heavily object-oriented, programs that are allocation-intensive, or programs that exploit built-in procedures (e.g., list operations, regular expression matching, or file manipulations) to perform most of the program's work.