Pattern matching is a high-level notation for programs to analyse the shape of data, and can be optimised to efficient low-level instructions.
The Stratego language uses \emph{first-class pattern matching}, a powerful form of pattern matching that traditional optimisation techniques do not apply to directly.

In this paper, we investigate how to optimise programs that use first-class pattern matching.
Concretely, we show how to map first-class pattern matching to a form close to traditional pattern matching, on which standard optimisations can be applied.

Through benchmarks, we demonstrate the positive effect of these optimisations on the run-time performance of Stratego programs.
We conclude that the expressive power of first-class pattern matching does not hamper the optimisation potential of a language that features it.