Software constructs that facilitate partial evaluation of source code

The present invention relates to the technique of compiling software, particularly source code, according to the techniques known as "early evaluation" or "partial evaluation." More specifically, the present invention relates to novel software constructs that are superimposed on source code by a programmer to facilitate efficient partial evaluation. A partial evaluator, or pre-compiler, for a computer program enables a user to provide, at suitable places within a program, language constructs which cause certain expressions within the program to be evaluated at runtime or at partial evaluation time. These language constructs can be used to shorten runtime, such as by avoiding unnecessary duplication of code at runtime.