Supercompilation is a deep program transformation technique due to V. F. Turchin, a prominent computer scientist, cybernetician, physicist, and Soviet dissident. He described the concept as follows [^supercompiler-concept]:
A supercompiler is a program transformer of a certain type. The usual way of thinking about program transformation is in terms of some set of rules which preserve the functional meaning of the program, and a step-by-step application of these rules to the initial program. ... The concept of a supercompiler is a product of cybernetic thinking. A program is seen as a machine. To make sense of it, one must observe its operation. So a supercompiler does not transform the program by steps; it controls and observes (SUPERvises) the running of the machine that is represented by the program; let us call this machine M1. In observing the operation of