Lisp to C conversion

[Daniel R. Levy]

In article <10200028 at ada-uts.UUCP>, richw at ada-uts.UUCP writes:
>"topaz!root"  says:
>Can you be more specific about "more optimization"?
>"Optimize" is a horrible word for "code-size/execution-time reduction".
>Did you ever consider that ALL programs which don't read any input
>(e.g. a program to calculate the first 1000 digits of pi) would be,
>theoretically, totally consumed by true "optimizing" compilers?
>That is, you tell the compiler to optimize your pi-calculating program
>and it spews out "3.14159..."
>
>-- Rich Wagner
That would be a marvel of "artificial intelligence" -- an optimizer that
can recognize algorithms.  Imagine--it would replace your bubble sorts
with Shell sorts (or better); linear searches would become binary or hashed;
all sorts of neat stuff.  The optimizer itself would crunch for long, long
periods of time; for "inputless" problems it might as well BE the task.  And
how well would this apply to a gargantuan problem like the current attempt to
calculate the mass of the proton from an entirely theoretical basis on a bevy
of high-powered IBM CPUs?  This is the kind of program where the data needed
could well be hardcoded in; I'd hate to wait for your "optimizer" to finish
with something of this kind!