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From: Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid>
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Continuations
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2024 23:57:46 -0000 (UTC)
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On Tue, 16 Jul 2024 17:17:57 +0000, MitchAlsup1 wrote:

> Does a continuation in a block structured language NEED everything on
> the block-stack, or is it more like 2-10 variables at rather well
> defined locations ?? more like a functor than a continuation.

My answer would be “it only needs to include what it needs”. Maybe in one 
instance it only needs a couple of integer variables, in another it might 
need a (gasp) multi-megabyte dynamic array.

The only register contents the hardware needs to worry about would be:

    * the program counter
    * the pointer to the call frame itself

and perhaps that’s it. Everything else (e.g. the concept of a “return 
address”) could be defined by the ABI.