> Hmm, this would only optimize the bytecode fetch/decode step of the ocaml
execution cycle. I am not sure that it will result in much real-world
speedup.

Would be interesting to try. I suspect the C compiler would then optimize
the sequences of operations on the data as well. For example, something like
vector addition.

> In fact, that seems to be the main problem with many of these so-called
JIT interpreters, which in my opinion, do not seem to have learnt from the
HAL architectures of IBM OS's etc. Was probably also the problem with
Transmeta; cheap compilation entails cheap performance.

Can you elaborate?

Cheers,
Jon.