A Hybrid Interpreter in a Software Development Environment

This paper describes the realization of an execution tool for Modula-2 modules which is part of an integrated tool set in a software development environment termed IPSEN (Incremental Programming Support Environment). In this environment, all software documents, e.g. Modula-2 modules, are manipulated by syntax-directed editors and are represented internally by attributed graphs. The execution of Modula-2 modules is done by two cooperating interpreters. The first one is a graph interpreter which traverses the internal graph from statement to statement. These statements are translated into a low-level, more efficiently executable object code and interpreted by a second interpreter. This concept of a hybrid interpreter allows the realization of an execution tool which offers a lot of runtime support features to the user.