An optimizing compiler for the icon programming language

Compiling code for the Icon programming language presents several challenges, particularly in dealing with types and goal-directed expression evaluation. In order to produce optimized code, it is necessary for the compiler to know much more about operations than is necessary for the compilation of most programming languages. This paper describes the organization of the Icon compiler and the way it acquires and maintains information about operations. The Icon compiler generates C code, which makes it portable to a wide variety of platforms and also allows the use of existing C compilers for performing routine optimizations on the final code. A specially designed implementation language, which is a superset of C, is used for writing Icon's run-time system. This language allows the inclusion of information about the abstract semantics of Icon operations and their type-checking and conversion requirements. A translator converts code written in the run-time language to C code to provide an object library for linking with the code produced by the Icon compiler. The translation process also automatically produces a database that contains the information the Icon compiler needs to generate and optimize code. This approach allows easy extension of Icon's computational repertoire, alternate computational extensions, and cross compilation.     

A program structuring preprocessor for a macro assembly language

This paper deals with design considerations and implementation of a program structuring preprocessor for a macro assembly language. The macro assembly language is used for writing the code generation pass of a compiler. Macro instructions become lengthy, tedious and cumbersome when they incorporate some mild code improvement. This is chiefly because the macro assembly language lacks an adequate program structuring facility. Program structuring is a great help in improving ease of programming and the under-standability of the expansion control statements of a macro instruction in such a kind of programming. Considerations on the design of the source language and the outline of implementation are described. The design objective is ease of implementation and ease of use, and is fairly well satisfied by the language.     

A LIS compiler for GCOS-7

This paper describes the implementation of a LIS compiler for GCOS-7. LIS is a high level system implementation language developed at CII-Honeywell Bull during the middle 1970s, and experience with the language and its implementation have largely influenced the design of Ada. The design of the compiler was particularly aimed at efficient code generation. Design decisions concerning the run-time organization in relation to procedure call and separate compilation are discussed. The structure of the compiler is described. The articulation between the different phases of the code generator is emphasized. Experience with the bootstrap is related.     

Towards a verified compiler prototype for the synchronous language SIGNAL

SIGNAL belongs to the synchronous languages family which are widely used in the design of safety-critical real-time systems such as avionics, space systems, and nuclear power plants. This paper reports a compiler prototype for SIGNAL. Compared with the existing SIGNAL compiler, we propose a new intermediate representation (named S-CGA, a variant of clocked guarded actions), to integrate more synchronous programs into our compiler prototype in the future. The front-end of the compiler, i.e., the translation from SIGNAL to S-CGA, is presented. As well, the proof of semantics preservation is mechanized in the theorem prover Coq. Moreover, we present the back-end of the compiler, including sequential code generation and multithreaded code generation with time-predictable properties. With the rising importance of multi-core processors in safetycritical embedded systems or cyber-physical systems (CPS), there is a growing need for model-driven generation of multithreaded code and thus mapping on multi-core. We propose a time-predictable multi-core architecture model in architecture analysis and design language (AADL), and map the multi-threaded code to this model.     

基于边缘轮廓特征的实时车型分类

采用面向对象技术设计可视化程序设计语言的编译系统,通过对复杂的可视化图片语法进行分析,将各语法现象以语法单元类的形式进行抽象分类,提出了编译器-编译器的设计策略,给出了从可视化图片设计语言到伪指令代码的解决方法.主要研究在面向对象的编辑环境中如何实现满足硬件设备控制器的稳定、高效的编译系统.通过将可视化程序语言分析器(VPLPG)和小型的类C编译(LCC)器配合使用最终实现可视化程序设计语言的编译系统.     

基于可视化程序设计语言的编译系统

采用面向对象技术设计可视化程序设计语言的编译系统，通过对复杂的可视化图片语法进行分析，将各语法现象以语法单元类的形式进行抽象分类，提出了编译器－编译器的设计策略，给出了从可视化图片设计语言到伪指令代码的解决方法。主要研究在面向对象的编辑环境中如何实现满足硬件设备控制器的稳定、高效的编译系统。通过将可视化程序语言分析器(VPLPG)和小型的类C编译(LCC)器配合使用最终实现可视化程序设计语言的编译系统。     

A mechanically verified language implementation

This paper briefly describes a programming language, its implementation on a microprocessor via a compiler and link-assembler, and the mechanically checked proof of the correctness of the implementation. The programming language, called Piton, is a high-level assembly language designed for verified applications and as the target language for high-level language compilers. It provides executeonly programs, recursive subroutine call and return, stack based parameter passing, local variables, global variables and arrays, a user-visible stack for intermediate results, and seven abstract data types including integers, data addresses, program addresses and subroutine names. Piton is formally specified by an interpreter written for it in the computational logic of Boyer and Moore. Piton has been implemented on the FM8502, a general purpose microprocessor whose gate-level design has been mechanically proved to implement its machine code interpreter. The FM8502 implementation of Piton is via a function in the Boyer-Moore logic which maps a Piton initial state into an FM8502 binary core image. The compiler and link-assembler are both defined as functions in the logic. The implementation requires approximately 36K bytes and 1400 lines of prettyprinted source code in the Pure Lisp-like syntax of the logic. The implementation has been mechanically proved correct. In particular, if a Piton state can be run to completion without error, then the final values of all the global data structures can be ascertained from an inspection of an FM8502 core image obtained by running the core image produced by the compiler and link-assembler. Thus, verified Piton programs running on FM8502 can be thought of as having been verified down to the gate level.This work was supported in part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency under DARPA Orders 6082 and 9151, contract MDA904-87-C-H009.     

The BLAZE language: A parallel language for scientific programming

Programming multiprocessor parallel architectures is a complex task. This paper describes a block-structured scientific programming language, BLAZE, designed to simplify this task. BLAZE contains array arithmetic, ‘forall’ loops, and APL-style accumulation operators, which allow natural expression of fine grained parallelism. It also employs an applicative or functional procedure invocation mechanism, which makes it easy for compilers to extract coarse grained parallelism using machine specific program restructuring. Thus BLAZE should allow one to achieve highly parallel execution on multiprocessor architectures, while still providing the user with conceptually sequential control flow.

A central goal in the design of BLAZE is portability across a broad range of parallel architectures. The multiple levels of parallelism present in BLAZE code, in principle, allow a compiler to extract the types of parallelism appropriate for the given architecture, while neglecting the remainder. This paper describes the features of BLAZE, and show how this language would be used in typical scientific programming.     

A pointer logic and certifying compiler

Proof-Carrying Code brings two big challenges to the research field of programming languages. One is to seek more expressive logics or type systems to specify or reason about the properties of low-level or high-level programs. The other is to study the technology of certifying compilation in which the compiler generates proofs for programs with annotations. This paper presents our progress in the above two aspects. A pointer logic was designed for PointerC (a C-like programming language) in our research. As an extension of Hoare logic, our pointer logic expresses the change of pointer information for each statement in its inference rules to support program verification. Meanwhile, based on the ideas from CAP (Certified Assembly Programming) and SCAP (Stack-based Certified Assembly Programming), a reasoning framework was built to verify the properties of object code in a Hoare style. And a certifying compiler prototype for PointerC was implemented based on this framework. The main contribution of this paper is the design of the pointer logic and the implementation of the certifying compiler prototype. In our certifying compiler, the source language contains rich pointer types and operations and also supports dynamic storage allocation and deallocation.     

基于标记语言的并行多核编程方法

提出一种在多核平台上的快速多线程编程模型ThreadXML。该模型通过使用标记语言形式,提高程序的开发效率,支持可视化,增强并行程序设计的移植性。其中,语言模型编译器的实现采用代码模板技术和面向对象技术相结合的方式,能将ThreadXML源代码转换成目前可执行的程序代码,辅助可视化工具采用图元对象和代码模板技术实现。     

基于GCC的VLIW编译系统研究

VLIW机器在单个机器周期中同时发射并执行多个的并行操作,从而获得较高的指令级并行度,这些操作之间的依赖分析和调度工作则被完全交给相应的编译器执行,因此VLIW的并行性能能否充分发挥取决于VLIW体系结构相关编译器的质量。GNU开发的GCC是被最广泛使用的编译系统之一,它具有多语言、多平台支持的能力和开放的结构,能够运用各种成熟的常规编译优化技术生成高效的代码。文章分析了VLIW及GCC的结构特点,提出了一种基于GCC的VLIW编译系统设计方案,利用GCC进行RTL中间代码一级的体系结构无关优化和少量体系结构相关优化,在汇编代码一级针对VLIW结构进行体系结构相关的优化,从而充分利用GCC的成熟编译技术快速开发高效的VLIW多语言编译系统。     

A practical approach to data modelling in spatial applications

The storage and manipulation of spatial data requires a different style of support from that normally found in commercial database systems. This paper explores the use of the functional data model and the high level language Daplex to provide an integrated tool for the conceptual modelling of spatial data and the manipulation of data values. Importance is attached to allowing dynamic schema definition and to the provision of abstract data types to support spatial objects. The implementation comprises three separate modules and uses an underlying relational DBMS to store all metadata and data values. This modular design has enabled the user interface, Daplex language and storage aspects of the software to be developed independently, creating a system which has already proved to be easily portable. Consideration has also been given to ways of improving system performance.     

Integrating discrete controller synthesis into a reactive programming language compiler

We define a mixed imperative/declarative programming language: declarative contracts are enforced upon imperatively described behaviors. This paper describes the semantics of the language, making use of the notion of Discrete Controller Synthesis (DCS). We target the application domain of adaptive and reconfigurable systems: our language can serve programming closed-loop adaptation controllers, enabling flexible execution of functionalities w.r.t. changing resource and environment conditions. DCS is integrated into a1 programming language compiler, which facilitates its use by users and programmers, performing executable code generation. The tool is concretely built upon the basis of a reactive programming language compiler, where the nodes describe behaviors that can be modeled in terms of transition systems. Our compiler integrates this with a DCS tool, making it a new environment for formal methods. We define the trace semantics of our contracts language, describe its compilation and establish its correctness, and discuss implementation and examples.     

A compiler model for a relational data base management system

One of the chief difficulties which needs to be overcome during the early design stages of a system is that of establishing a satisfactory design for that system. From the time it was first conceived it was apparent that the Relational Data Base Management System is like a compiler in so far as it takes a succession of user requests for information formulated in an applied predicate calculus and translates each one into a series of calls which access an underlying data base and transform data from that data base into the form the user wishes to see. This paper compares the architecture of the Relational Data Base Management System with that of a compiler, and then demonstrates the use of the architecture when processing a language based on an applied predicate calculus. Finally, the paper describes a number of extensions to that architecture which are required to solve the particular problems raised by the data base system.     

A performance debugging tool for high performance Fortran programs

Parallel languages allow the programmer to express parallelism at a high level. The management of parallelism and the generation of interprocessor communication is left to the compiler and the runtime system. This approach to parallel programming is particularly attractive if a suitable widely accepted parallel language is available. High Performance Fortran (HPF) has emerged as the first popular machine independent parallel language, and remarkable progress has been made towards compiling HPF efficiently. However, the performance of HPF programs is often poor and unpredictable, and obtaining adequate performance is a major stumbling block that must be overcome if HPF is to gain widespread acceptance. The programmer is often in the dark about how to improve the performance of an HPF program since poor performance can be attributed to a variety of reasons, including poor choice of algorithm, limited use of parallelism, or an inefficient data mapping. This paper presents a profiling tool that allows the programmer to identify the regions of the program that execute inefficiently, and to focus on the potential causes of poor performance. The central idea is to distinguish the code that is executing efficiently from the code that is executing poorly. Efficient code uses all processors of a parallel system to make progress, while inefficient code causes processors to wait, execute replicated code, idle, communicate, or perform compiler bookkeeping. We designate the latter code as non-scalable, since adding more processors generally does not lead to improved performance for such code. By analogy, the former code is called scalable. The tool presented here separates a program into scalable and non-scalable components and identifies the causes of non-scalability of different components. We show that compiler information is the key to dividing the execution times into logical categories that are meaningful to the programmer. We present the design and implementation of a profiler that is integrated with Fx, a compiler for a variant of HPF. The paper includes two examples that demonstrate how the data reported by the profiler are used to identify and resolve performance bugs in parallel programs. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Signatures: A language extension for improving type abstraction and subtype polymorphism in C++

C++ uses inheritance as a substitute for subtype polymorphism. We give examples where this makes the type system too inflexible. We then describe a conservative language extension that allows a programmer to define an abstract type hierarchy independent of any implementation hierarchies, to retroactively abstract over an implementation, and to decouple subtyping from inheritance. This extension gives the user more of the flexibility of dynamic typing while retaining the efficiency and security of static typing. With default implementations and views flexible mechanisms are provided for implementing an abstract type by different concrete class types. We first show how the language extension can be implemented in a preprocessor to a C++ compiler, and then detail and analyse the efficiency of an implementation we directly incorporated in the GNU C++ compiler.     

Efficient handling of data structures in definitional languages

Implementations of operations on general data structures in definitional languages often lead to excessive copying and storage requirements. To partially overcome this problem, users are given facilities to select efficient storage structures or to guide storage allocation. This contradicts the spirit of definitional languages, requiring the user to get involved with implementation details.

This paper presents a method for automatically recognizing excessive copying and optimizing the storage for data structures. Based on analysis of data dependencies, the storage may be reduced from an entire structure to individual elements of the structure. The benefits are especially significant in incremental structures, where only a constant number of elements of a large data structure is modified in each operation. For incremental structures, copying of unchanged parts of the structure is avoided, and unnecessary iterations are eliminated, without involving the user in this consideration. The user is thus relieved of considering the inefficiencies inherent in specifications in definitional languages. The method is applicable to a variety of language processors and computer architectures. The proposed optimization method produces better results than those obtained by explicit storage references.

The paper describes the implementation of the method in the compiler of the MODEL definitional language. First, criteria are presented for recognizing structures that may be optimized. Then, a transformation that removes iterations implied by the operations on incremental structures is described. The method is exemplified by its application to the non-recursive iteration computation of the Ackermann's function.