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5.1 The compiler translates to C

The ECL compiler is essentially a translator from Common-Lisp to C. Given a Lisp source file, the compiler first generates three intermediate files:

The ECL compiler then invokes the C compiler to compile the C-file into an object file. Finally, the contents of the Data-file is appended to the object file to make a Fasl-file. The generated Fasl-file can be loaded into the ECL system by the Common-Lisp function load. By default, the three intermediate files are deleted after the compilation, but, if asked, the compiler leaves them.

The merits of the use of C as the intermediate language are:

The demerits are: