Support application of variables known at compile time

[waalge]

why params

Validator params are convenient from one perspective. Only something that understands a bit of cbor and uplc is able to carryout applyParams and can be done in, say, browser based setting.

There is some (@MicroProofs ?) way to verify on-chain that two scripts belong to the same "family" ie differ by parameters.

why not params

The param values have to propagate down the function calls, increasing arg counts, rather than just use ing the constant.

Potential computations / optimizations are missed.

Params can be an artifact of needing to test the validator in different contexts, eg depends on token on mainnet but for testing we have to create our own.

In many contexts the full aiken compiler is available when params are known, and there is no advantage to on-chain awareness of "family".

Current work around

Since aiken reads only aiken files and in specific locations then we have separate code that emits an aiken file pre aiken build

Note : This subsumes cases like #676 , with "repeat until fixed".