Abstract
This paper presents a method to compile the Standard ML module language into a flattened intermediate language. An innovative point on this approach lies in viewing a functor as a code template with place holders representing the functor arguments. Each functor application fills these place holders in the code template with the actual functor argument and generates a fresh structure. After this compilation, module language constructs are all eliminated. This method allows us to compile the full set of Standard ML language into a typed intermediate language that contains no special mechanism for module, and provides a simpler model for separate compilation. The proposed compilation method has been successfully implemented in the SML# compiler, which demonstrates the feasibility of the method. This paper also reports the details of our implementation.
