A mechanically verified incremental garbage collector

As an application of a system designed for concurrent program verification, we describe a formalisation and mechanical proof of the correctness of Ben-Ari's incremental garbage collection algorithm. The proof system is based on the Manna-Pnueli model of concurrency and is implemented as an extension of the Boyer-Moore prover. The correctness of the garbage collector is represented by two theorems, stating a) that nothing except garbage is ever collected (safety), and b) that all garbage is eventually collected (liveness). We compare our mechanised treatment with several published proofs of the same results.     

Accurate garbage collection in uncooperative environments revisited

Implementing a concurrent programming language such as Java by means of a translator to an existing language is attractive as it provides portability over all platforms supported by the host language and reduces development time—as many low‐level tasks can be delegated to the host compiler. The C and C++ programming languages are popular choices for many language implementations due to the availability of efficient compilers on a wide range of platforms. For garbage‐collected languages, however, they are not a perfect match as no support is provided for accurately discovering pointers to heap‐allocated data on thread stacks. We evaluate several previously published techniques and propose a new mechanism, lazy pointer stacks, for performing accurate garbage collection in such uncooperative environments. We implemented the new technique in the Ovm Java virtual machine with our own Java‐to‐C/C++ compiler using GCC as a back‐end compiler. Our extensive experimental results confirm that lazy pointer stacks outperform existing approaches: we provide a speedup of 4.5% over Henderson's accurate collector with a 17% increase in code size. Accurate collection is essential in the context of real‐time systems, we thus validate our approach with the implementation of a real‐time concurrent garbage collection algorithm. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On-the-fly garbage collection for several mutators

Summary An algorithm is given for on-the-fly garbage collection in the presence of several mutators. It uses two colours and is a generalization of Ben-Ari's algorithm (1984). The correctness proof is based on the lexical orderings of several tuples of state space functions. It is shown that in a certain sense the algorithm is optimal. Three variations of the algorithm are given and proved correct. In the case that there is only one mutator one of these variations closely resembles a well-known incorrect algorithm. Jan E. Jonker was born in 1943. He received his Master's degree in Theoretical Physics in 1968 and his Master's degree in Computing Science in 1989, both from the University of Groningen. From 1968 until 1976 he did research on the electronic structure of dilute impurities in iron. From 1976 until 1989 he did research on the medical aspects of road accidents. Currently, he is assistant professor at the University of Groningen. His main research interests are programming methodology, parallel computations and delay-insensitive circuit design.     

Fixing some space leaks with a garbage collector

Some functional programs may use more space than would be expected. A modification to the garbage collector is suggested which solves this problem in some cases. Related work is discussed.     

A garbage collection algorithm for shared memory parallel processors

This paper describes a technique for adapting the Morris sliding garbage collection algorithm to execute on parallel machines with shared memory. The algorithm is described within the framework of an implementation of the parallel logic language Parlog. However, the algorithm is a general one and can easily be adapted to parallel Prolog systems and to other languages. The performance of the algorithm executing a few simple Parlog benchmarks is analyzed. Finally, it is shown how the technique for parallelizing the sequential algorithm can be adapted for a semi-space copying algorithm.     

LMNtal as a hierarchical logic programming language

LMNtal (pronounced “elemental”) is a simple language model based on hierarchical graph rewriting that uses logical variables to represent connectivity and membranes to represent hierarchy. LMNtal is an outcome of the attempt to unify constraint-based concurrency and Constraint Handling Rules (CHR), the two notable extensions to concurrent logic programming. LMNtal is intended to be a substrate language of various computational models, especially those addressing concurrency, mobility and multiset rewriting. Although the principal objective of LMNtal was to provide a unifying computational model, it is of interest to equip the formalism with a precise logical interpretation. In this paper, we show that it is possible to give LMNtal a simple logical interpretation based on intuitionistic linear logic and a flattening technique. This enables us to call LMNtal a hierarchical, concurrent linear logic language.     

基于关键引用验证的分布式实时垃圾搜集器*

提出了一种新的分布式垃圾搜集器（GC）机制,即基于关键引用验证的分布式GC。性能分析说明,与以往的分布式GC相比,该算法能以最短的时间延迟回收循环垃圾。尽管该算法为保留引用列表和验证过程需要额外的一些存储空间,但具有一定的实时性和较好的容错性,综合性能较好,适用于大规模分布式系统。     

Time required for garbage collection in retention block-structured languages

This paper investigates the time requirements for an implementation of retention block-structured languages that uses a garbage collector as its sole means for recovering inaccessible storage. The usual three-pass markcompactify-and-update garbage collector is optimized to eliminate the need for the third pass in the event that the executed program is lifetime well-stacking.Supported (in part) by the United States Energy Research and Development Administration, Contract No. E(04-3)-34, PA 214, and (in part) by the National Science Foundation, Grant No. DCR75-08659.     

An incremental garbage collection algorithm for multi-mutator systems

An elementary correctness proof for Ben-Ari's algorithm (1984) for incremental garbage collection is given. We give a new algorithm for systems in which there are multiple mutators and a proof of its correctness, which is a minor modification of the previous proof. Finally, we remark upon a way to implement these algorithms that may increase their performance on certain architectures. Carl Pixley holds B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mathematics from the University of Omaha, Rutgers-The State University, and the State University of New York at Binghamton, respectively. His principal contributions are the Pixley-Roy construction of set-theoretic topology, a example in the selection theory of infinite-dimensional spaces, a decomposition theorem (with W. Eaton) in geometric topology, and the design and implementation of demanddriven arithmetic in a functional programming language. He is now a member of the technical staff of the VLSI Computer Aided Design Program of Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC) in Austin Texas, where he is investigating mathematical methods in the verification of hardware.     

Knowledge-based environment for investigating multicomputer architectures

Multicomputers for massively parallel processing will eventually employ billions of processing elements, each of which will be capable of communicating with every other processing element. A knowledge-based modelling and simulation environment (KBMSE) for investigating such multicomputer architecture at a discrete-event system level is described. The KBMSE implements the discrete-event system specification (DEVS) formalism in an object-oriented programming system of Scheme (a dialect), which supports building models in a hierarchical, modular manner, a systems-oriented approach not possible in conventional simulation languages. The paper presents a framework for knowledge-based modelling and simulation by exemplifying modelling a hypercube multicomputer architecture in the KBMSE. The KBMSE has been tested on a variety of domains characterized by complex, hierarchical structures such as advanced multicomputer architectures, local area computer networks, intelligent multi-robot organizations, and biologically based life-support systems.     

Multiple robot programming using a concurrent logic language

Advances in robotics has led to the cooperation of multiple robots among themselves and with their industrial automation environment. Efficient interaction with industrial robots thus becomes one of the key factors in the successful utilization of this modern equipment. When multiple manipulators have to be coordinated, there is a need for a new programming approach that facilitates and encompasses the needs of concurrency, synchronization, timing, and communication. Most robot languages have been developed with little attention being given to the integration of the robot with its environment. Currently, there is a gap between the robot capabilities, the task definition environment, and language facilities supplied to use robots.This paper analyzes the needs and then establishes that a concurrent logic programming approach is a step towards achieving a multi-robot knowledgeable task programming. In particular, the FCP dialect of concurrent Prolog is demonstrated, and analyzed.This research is partially supported by the Paul Ivanier Center for research in robots and production management.     

Joyce—A programming language for distributed systems

This paper describes a secure programming language called Joyce based on CSP and Pascal. Joyce permits unbounded (recursive) activation of communicating agents. The agents exchange messages through synchronous channels. A channel can transfer messages of different types between two or more agents. A compiler can check message types and ensure that agents use disjoint sets of variables only. The use of Joyce is illustrated by a variety of examples.     

A programming language for learning environments

Most of the recent research on programming languages for education has been centered around the language Logo. In this paper we introduce another candidate language for learning environments, Nial, the nested interactive array language.
Nial is a general-purpose programming language based on a formal theory of mathematics called array theory. This paper introduces Nial as a language for learning programming and developing and using computer-aided instruction tools. A comparison with Logo is provided to evaluate these two languages in terms of their strengths and weaknesses as programming environments for novice programmers. We also demonstrate that a programming environment can be both simple to leam at the novice level and extendible to a powerful and sophisticated language.     

A metalogic programming approach: language,semantics and applications

Abstract

This paper presents a logic programming language of novel conception, called Reflective Prolog, which allows declarative metaknowledge representation and metareasoning. The language is defined by augmenting pure Prolog (Horn clauses) with capabilities of self-reference and logical reflection. Self-reference is designed as a quotation device (a carefully defined naming relation) which allows the construction of metalevel terms that refer to object-level terms and atoms. Logical reflection is designed as an unquotation mechanism (a distinguished truth predicate) which relates names to what is named, thus extending the meaning of domain predicates. The reflection mechanism is embodied in an extended resolution procedure which automatically switches the context between levels. This implicit reflection relieves the programmer from having to explicitly deal with control aspects of the inference process. The declarative semantics of a Reflective Prolog definite program P is provided in terms of the least reflective Herbrand model of P, characterized by means of a suitable mapping defined over the Herbrand interpretations of P. The extended resolution is proved sound and complete with respect to the least reflective Herbrand model. By illustrating Reflective Prolog solutions to an organic set of problems, and by discussing the main differences with respect to other approaches to logic metaprogramming, we show that the proposed language deploys, within its field of action, greater expressive and inferential power than those available till now. The interpreter of the language has been fully implemented. Because of its enhanced power, logic semantics and working interpreter, Reflective Prolog is offered as a contribution toward making the declarative approach of logic programming applicable to the development of increasingly sophisticated knowledge-based systems.     

Tree Rerooting in Distributed Garbage Collection: Implementation and Performance Evaluation

We have recently defined a new algorithm for distributed garbage collection based on reference-counting (Luc Moreau, in Proceedings of the Third International Conference of Functional Programming (ICFP'98), Sept. 1998, pp. 204–215; Luc Moreau and J. Duprat, Technical Report RR1999-18, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Lyon, March 1999). At the heart of the algorithm, we find tree rerooting, a mechanism able to reduce third-party dependencies by reorganising diffusion trees. In reality, the algorithm describes a spectrum of algorithms according to the policy used to manage messages. In this paper, we present the implementation of the algorithm and evaluate its performance. We have implemented two policies, which are extremes of the spectrum, respectively using and not using tree rerooting. In addition, two different strategies for managing action queues have been implemented. The conclusions of our experimentations are the following. Tree rerooting offers more parallelism during distributed GC activity; we explain this phenomenon by the length reduction of causality chains in the distributed GC. Grouping messages per destination dramatically reduces the number of messages, but requires a more complex implementation as messages have to be sorted per destination. Speed up of 100% has been observed on some benchmarks.     

Implementation of a Pascal based parallel language for a multiprocessor computer

This paper reports the work on implementing a parallel version of Pascal on a small scale multiprocessor computer. A few simple primitives were included to support parallel programming. The code generation, linking and loading procedures are described. An overview of the hardware is included. Finally some programming experience with the system is reported.