ITR/SY(CISE): Putting Multi Stage Annotations to Work

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

Techniques such as program generation, partial evaluation, just-in-time compilation, and run-time code generation respond to the need for general purpose programs which do not pay unnecessary run-time overheads. The thesis of this project is that a uniform, principled, high-level, and practical view of these diverse techniques is possible through multi-stage programming, a novel paradigm for the development of maintainable, high-performance software. The key idea in multi-stage programming is the use of simple, high-level annotations to allow the programmer to break down the cost of a computation into distinct stages. The goal of this proposal is to demonstrate that the theoretical machinery that has been developed for multi-stage programming can be put to work. This project will involve the development of compilers of multi-stage programming languages, addressing both practical and theoretical problems that arise in the development of such systems, and using these compilers in interesting applications ranging from dynamic programming algorithms and rewriting systems to implementations of domain specific programming languages.