Changes between Version 4 and Version 5 of Commentary/Libraries/Integer

Timestamp:

06/27/12 15:04:44 (11 months ago)

Author:

igloo

Comment:

--

Commentary/Libraries/Integer

@@ -19 +19 @@
 == How Integer is handled inside GHC  ==
 
-Integers are represented using the `HsInteger` constructor of `HsLit` for the early phases of compilation (e.g. type checking), but for later stages, once we use the `Core` representation, they are converted to the `LitInteger` constructor of the `Literal` type by `mkIntegerExpr`. While `Integer`s aren't "machine literals" like the other `Literal` constructors, it is more convenient when writing rules to pretend that they are literals rather than having to understand their real core representation.
+Integers are represented using the `HsInteger` constructor of `HsLit` for the early phases of compilation (e.g. type checking), but for later stages, once we use the `Core` representation, they are converted to the `LitInteger` constructor of the `Literal` type by `mkIntegerExpr`. While `Integer`s aren't "machine literals" like the other `Literal` constructors, it is more convenient when writing rules to pretend that they are literals rather than having to understand their real core representation. We also carry around a `Type`, representing the `Integer` type, in the constructor, as we need access to it in a few functions (e.g. `literalType`).
 
 All of the types and functions in the `Integer` interface have built-in names, e.g. `plusIntegerName`, defined in [[GhcFile(compiler/prelude/PrelNames.lhs)]] and included in `basicKnownKeyNames`. This allows us to match on all of the functions in `builtinIntegerRules` in [[GhcFile(compiler/prelude/PrelRules.lhs)]], so we can constant-fold Integer expressions.
 
-We keep the `LitInteger` representation as late as possible; in particular, it's important that this representation is used in unfoldings in interface files, so that constant folding can happen on expressions that get inlined. We only convert it to a proper core representation of Integer in [[GhcFile(compiler/coreSyn/CorePrep.lhs)]], where we normally use the Id for `mkInteger` (which we are carrying around in the `LitInteger` constructor) to build an expression like `mkInteger True [123, 456]` (where the `Bool` represents the sign, and the list of `Int`s are 31 bit chunks of the absolute value from lowest to highest).
+We keep the `LitInteger` representation as late as possible; in particular, it's important that this representation is used in unfoldings in interface files, so that constant folding can happen on expressions that get inlined. We only convert it to a proper core representation of Integer in [[GhcFile(compiler/coreSyn/CorePrep.lhs)]], which looks up the Id for `mkInteger` and uses it to build an expression like `mkInteger True [123, 456]` (where the `Bool` represents the sign, and the list of `Int`s are 31 bit chunks of the absolute value from lowest to highest).
 
-However, there is a special case for `Integer`s that are within the range of `Int` when the `integer-gmp` implementation is being used; in that case, we use the `S#` constructor (via `integerGmpSDataCon` in [[GhcFile(compiler/prelude/TysWiredIn.lhs)]]) to break teh abstraction and directly create the datastructure.
+However, there is a special case for `Integer`s that are within the range of `Int` when the `integer-gmp` implementation is being used; in that case, we use the `S#` constructor (via `integerGmpSDataCon` in [[GhcFile(compiler/prelude/TysWiredIn.lhs)]]) to break the abstraction and directly create the datastructure.