Subject: New version of Interlisp-10 (release 145) ADDENDUM

[Masinter.PA]

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Compiler

This version of Interlisp-10 contains an improved compiler. In particular,
the compiler performs some "constant-folding". For example, simple numeric
expressions consisting only of constants will be computed at compile time.
This is particularly useful in expressions which get generated via macros.
[These optimizations are also performed by the Interlisp-D (and thus -VAX)
compilers and, I believe, the Interlisp-Jericho compiler.]

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(CONSTANTS . vars)			[File package command]

The user can now declare variables as constants (in all Interlisp 
implementations). The file package command (and function) CONSTANTS
resembles the VARS file package command in format, but the value
of the variable will actually be used in-line in the code generated by
the compiler. This allows users to declare variables as compile-time-constants
without having to explicitly wrap a CONSTANT around its use.

This feature should be used with some caution, since functions must
which use a constant must be recompiled when the value of the constant
changes. If there is a Masterscope data base of the users functions, Masterscope
will warn the user about which functions need recompilation when a
CONSTANT is reassigned at the top level.