Instructor:
Andrew Tolmach
PSU PCAT 128A
725-5492
email: apt@cs.pdx.edu
Office Hours: MW 11-12 or by appt.
Course meeting: TuFri 5:45-7pm at OGI
Course home page: http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~apt/510cal
We will study compilers for a modern higher-order, typed ("HOT") programming languages such as Java and ML. The compiler will be constructed by building a series of progressively more complex interpreters, culminating in an interpreter that can be viewed as a code generator. Our implementation language for these interpreters will be OCAML. The emphasis of the course will be on understanding the distinctive challenges of compiling HOT languages. The main topics will include intermediate langugage design, type systems, dynamic function dispatch, whole-program optimization, storage management and garbage collection. We will not worry at all about "front-end" issues like parsing.
PSU Graduate students: Note that this course will substitute for CS577 in the "Languages" track.
For everyone: Familiarity with object-oriented programming in Java or C++ and willingness to learn some ML.
For graduate students: PSU CS558 (or equivalent); a previous compiler course is desirable.
For undergraduates: Permission of the instructor. At a minimum, you need to have completed CS301/302 with good grades (and enthusiasm!).
Two weekly lectures; bi-weekly homeworks; take-home final exam.
| Mar 28/31 | Intro; Lambda Calculus |
| Apr 4/7 | Core intermediate language; Data Representation |
| Apr 11/14 | Objects |
| Apr 18/21 | Type Systems; Polymorphism |
| Apr 25/28 | Interpreters |
| May 2/5 | Abstract and concrete machines |
| May 9/12 | Dynamic function dispatch |
| May 16/19 | Optimization |
| May 23/26 | Code generation |
| May 30/Jun 2 | Garbage collection |
The homeworks and final will involve programming exercises in OCAML, the French dialect of ML. You will want to download the most recent executable and documentation for the system for use on your own machine (linux or windows) from
http://pauillac.inria.fr/ocaml/
CAML differs from Standard ML in superficial syntax and (just a few) semantic features, but you should have no trouble transfering whatever knowledge you have about SML to CAML.
Supporting materials for exercises will be made available on the course web page.
Some readings may be handed out (or pointed at on the web) as the course progresses.
You will probably want access to a reference book on ML, in addition to the reference manual available with the OCAML system. Unfortunately, the only textbook specifically about the CAML dialect is an introduction to programming (rather than an introduction to ML) - but it is good as far as it goes:
Guy Cousineau and Michel Mauny, The Functional Approach to Programming, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
There are quite a number of books on Standard ML; I'd suggest
Larry Paulson, ML for the Working Programmer, Cambridge University Press, 2nd, ed., 1996.
but lots of others are ok. See
http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/what/smlnj/doc/literature.html
for more resources (including web tutorials) on SML. Again, most of what you read will transfer to CAML with some minor syntatic adjustments.