Native delimited continuations for bytecode OCaml

[Jacques Carette <carette@mcmaster.ca>]

[Posted for oleg@pobox.com]

This message announces the native implementation of delimited
continuation framework for byte-code OCaml. The framework supports
`static' (shift/reset) and `dynamic' (prompt/control, shift0,
control0) delimited continuation operators with multiple, arbitrarily
typed prompts. The test file testd0.ml is a good example of using
shift/reset in OCaml programs.

The implementation is native: it copies a relevant fragment of the
OCaml interpreter stack (The stack or its fragments are never
inspected however). The implementation is efficient: only the
necessary prefix of the stack is copied. The implementation is
fully integrated with OCaml exceptions: exception handlers may be
captured in delimited continuation (and re-instated when the captured
continuation is installed); exceptions remove the prompts along the
way. The implementation has no typing problems, no bizarre 'a cont
types, and no use for magic. The implementation does no patching to
the OCaml system and is a regular library. If you compile the
top-level (see `make top'), you can use delimited continuation
operators in interactive OCaml sessions.

The library has been tested for OCaml 3.08, 3.09.0, and 3.09.1, on
ia32 Linux and FreeBSD platforms. The current version is 1.6, Feb 7,
2006.

The library is distributed under the MIT license.

	http://pobox.com/~oleg/ftp/packages/caml-shift.tar.gz