On the need for fewer restrictions in changing compile-time environments

Compilers for current programming languages enforce rigid restrictions on changes, during the compilation of a statement, in the set of associations between names and declarations, that is, on changes in the compile-time environment of the statement. These restrictions inhibit the writing of well-structured, modular programs, because such programs tend to require frequent switching between the environments associated with different modules. With current compilers, arbitrary switching of environments must be handled by means of macros at compile time or deferred until run time. Conventional macros are difficult to use in situations where it is desirable that the macro writer and the macro user be ignorant about each other's programs. When deferred until run time, frequent switching of environments becomes costly owing to the overhead associated with subroutine calls. In order to encourage the compartmentalization of program information and at the same time to allow efficient code generation, we propose the relaxation of present restrictions on changes in the compile-time environment. Specifically, we propose that a group of declarations can be defined as an environment and that arbitrary pieces of program text can state within which environment they are to be compiled. With such a mechanism, program text can be intermixed by means of macros without having to make the relevant declarations global or having to repeat the declarations in places other than the environment's definition.