On the automatic simplification of computer programs
Communications of the ACM
Communications of the ACM
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For some time there has been interest in the possibility of processing programs in an attempt to simplify them automatically. Nievergelt1 suggests that most programs can be improved and that some kinds of simplification of a machine-language program might be done better by a computer than by a programmer. It is also true that some kinds of simplification of a source-language program may be done better by a computer than by a programmer. Many source-language programs, especially large ones that have been corrected or modified by several people, contain instances of statement sequences that are logically out of place. It seems feasible that these and other troublesome situations might be detected and improved by a computer program. One of the advantages of such a program is that improvements made at the source-language level cause a permanent improvement in the source program. Another advantage is that the improvements can be made without regard to the machine on which the source program is to run.