Run-time Code Generation and Modal-ML

This paper presents a typed programming language and compiler for run-time code generation. The language, called ML2, extends ML with modal operators in the style of the Mini-ML2 e language of Davies and Pfenning. ML2 allows programmers to use types to specify precisely the stages of computation in a program. The types also guide the compiler in generating target code that exploits the staging information through the use of run-time code generation. The target machine is currently a version of the Categorical Abstract Machine, called the CCAM, which we have extended with facilities for run-time code generation. This approach allows the programmer to express the staging that he wants directly to the compiler. It also provides a typed framework in which to verify the correctness of his staging intentions, and to discuss his staging decisions with other programmers. Finally, it supports in a natural way multiple stages of run-time specialization, so that dynamically generated code can be...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1998
• Where: PLDI
• Authors: Philip Wickline, Peter Lee, Frank Pfenning
• Keywords: PLDI 1998, Programming Languages, Run-time Code Generation, Target Code, Typed Programming Language