. We illustrate a simple and e#ective solution to semantics-based compiling. Our solution is based on "type-directed partial evaluation", and -- our compiler generator is expressed in a few lines, and is e#cient; -- its input is a well-typed, purely functional definitional interpreter in the style of denotational semantics; -- the output of the generated compiler is e#ectively three-address code, in the fashion and e#ciency of the Dragon Book; -- the generated compiler processes several hundred lines of source code per second. The source language considered in this case study is imperative, blockstructured, higher-order, call-by-value, allows subtyping, and obeys stack discipline. It is bigger than what is usually reported in the literature on semantics-based compiling and partial evaluation. Our compiling technique uses the first Futamura projection, i.e., we compile programs by specializing a definitional interpreter with respect to the program. Specialization is carri...

The two pillars of trust analysis and dependence algebra form the foundation of this thesis. Trust analysis is a static analysis of the run-time trustworthiness of data. Dependence algebra is a rich abstract model of data dependences in programming languages, applicable to several kinds of analyses. We have

Abstract A distinguishing characteristic of action semantics is its facet system, which defines the variety of information flows in a language definition. The facet system can be analyzed to validate the well-formedness of a language definition, to infer the typings of its inputs and outputs, and to calculate the operational semantics of programs. We present a single framework for doing all of the above. The framework exploits the internal subsorting structure of the facets so that sort checking, static analysis, and operational semantics are related, sound instances of the same underlying analysis. The framework also suggests that action semantics's extensibility can be understood as a kind of "weakening rule " in a "logic " of actions. In this paper, the framework is used to perform type inference on specific programs, to justify meaning-preserving code transformations, and to "stage " an action semantics definition of a programming language into a static semantics stage and a dynamic semantics stage. 1 Introduction Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of action semantics is its structure of facets. The facets provide a "road map " to the nature of a programming language, and in this paper we show how the internal structure of the facets also indicate the kinds of analyses that can be undertaken upon the language. In particular, the subsorting hierarchy of a facet specifies a hierarchy of properties of the facet.