Result: Formal compiler construction in a logical framework

Title:
Formal compiler construction in a logical framework
Authors:
HICKEY, Jason, NOGIN, Aleksey
Source:
Second ACM SIGPLAN workshop MEchanized Reasoning about Languages with varIable and Names (MERΛIN 2003)Higher-order and symbolic computation. 19(2-3):197-230
Publisher Information:
Heidelberg: Springer, 2006.
Publication Year:
2006
Physical Description:
print, 34 ref
Original Material:
INIST-CNRS
Subject Terms:
Computer science, Informatique, Sciences exactes et technologie, Exact sciences and technology, Sciences appliquees, Applied sciences, Informatique; automatique theorique; systemes, Computer science; control theory; systems, Informatique théorique, Theoretical computing, Algorithmique. Calculabilité. Arithmétique ordinateur, Algorithmics. Computability. Computer arithmetics, Théorie programmation, Programming theory, Automatisation, Automation, Automatización, Calcul symbolique, Symbolic computation, Cálculo simbólico, Compilateur, Compiler, Compilador, Débogage, Debugging, Puesta a punto programa, Estimation erreur, Error estimation, Estimación error, Formalisation, Formalization, Formalización, Génération code, Code generation, Generación código, Langage ML, ML language, Programmation logique, Logical programming, Programación lógica, Transformation programme, Program transformation, Transformación programa, Validation, Validación, Réécriture terme, Syntaxe abstraite ordre élevé, Higher-order abstract syntax, Formal compiler, Logical programming environment
Document Type:
Conference Conference Paper
File Description:
text
Language:
English
Author Affiliations:
California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125, United States
ISSN:
1388-3690
Access URL:
http://pascal-francis.inist.fr/vibad/index.php?action=search&terms=18084220
Rights:
Copyright 2006 INIST-CNRS
CC BY 4.0
Sauf mention contraire ci-dessus, le contenu de cette notice bibliographique peut être utilisé dans le cadre d’une licence CC BY 4.0 Inist-CNRS / Unless otherwise stated above, the content of this bibliographic record may be used under a CC BY 4.0 licence by Inist-CNRS / A menos que se haya señalado antes, el contenido de este registro bibliográfico puede ser utilizado al amparo de una licencia CC BY 4.0 Inist-CNRS
Notes:
Computer science; theoretical automation; systems
Accession Number:
edscal.18084220
Database:
PASCAL Archive

Further Information

The task of designing and implementing a compiler can be a difficult and error-prone process. In this paper, we present a new approach based on the use of higher-order syntax and term rewriting in a logical framework. All program transformations, from parsing to code generation, are cleanly isolated and specified as term rewrites. This has several advantages. The correctness of the compiler depends solely on a small set of rewrite rules that are written in the language of formal mathematics. In addition, the logical framework guarantees the preservation of scoping, and it automates many frequently-occurring tasks including substitution and rewriting strategies. As we show, compiler development in a logical framework can be easier than in a general-purpose language like ML, in part because of automation, and also because the framework provides extensive support for examination, validation, and debugging of the compiler transformations. The paper is organized around a case study, using the MetaPRL logical framework to compile an ML-like language to Intel x86 assembly. We also present a scoped formalization of x86 assembly in which all registers are immutable.