[plt-scheme] Lazy evaluation and tail calls

Joe (cc'ing James and plt-scheme)-

On Jan 17, 2009, at 12:26 PM, Joe Marshall wrote:

> On Sat, Jan 17, 2009 at 6:42 AM, James Coglan  
> <jcoglan at googlemail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I was wondering whether it's possible to have tail call  
>> optimisation when
>> using normal order. I don't want to bang my head against the wall  
>> trying to
>> make it happen if it can't be done.
>
> To answer your question directly:  it isn't easy and it might not be  
> possible
> at all.  If anyone *really* knows the answer, it is Will Clinger.
>
> I might be a bit behind the times here, but I believe it is still an
> open question
> the way you have phrased it.  I'll go out on a limb and suggest that  
> a good
> explanation is worthy of a degree.
>

If you want to see related work on this topic, you may want to look at  
the work of Bakewell and Runciman on this topic.

For example:

http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=351287

(Caveat: I read their papers a few years ago, so maybe their stuff has  
become out-dated.  But my memory is that they at least referenced  
Will's work on the topic; they had a chance of being on the right  
track.)

-Felix