MetaML and Multi-Stage Programming with Explicit Annotations

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MetaML and Multi-Stage Programming with Explicit Annotations (1999)

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by Walid Taha , Tim Sheard

Venue:	Theoretical Computer Science
Citations:	300 - 32 self

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@INPROCEEDINGS{Taha99metamland,
    author = {Walid Taha and Tim Sheard},
    title = {MetaML and Multi-Stage Programming with Explicit Annotations},
    booktitle = {Theoretical Computer Science},
    year = {1999},
    pages = {203--217},
    publisher = {ACM Press}
}

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Abstract

. We introduce MetaML, a practically-motivated, staticallytyped multi-stage programming language. MetaML is a "real" language. We have built an implementation and used it to solve multi-stage problems. MetaML allows the programmer to construct, combine, and execute code fragments in a type-safe manner. Code fragments can contain free variables, but they obey the static-scoping principle. MetaML performs typechecking for all stages once and for all before the execution of the first stage. Certain anomalies with our first MetaML implementation led us to formalize an illustrative subset of the MetaML implementation. We present both a big-step semantics and type system for this subset, and prove the type system's soundness with respect to a big-step semantics. From a software engineering point of view, this means that generators written in the MetaML subset never generate unsafe programs. A type system and semantics for full MetaML is still ongoing work. We argue that multi-...

Keyphrases

multi-stage programming explicit annotation type system code fragment big-step semantics metaml implementation illustrative subset multi-stage programming language type-safe manner multi-stage problem first stage real language certain anomaly first metaml implementation ongoing work software engineering point free variable generate unsafe program full metaml static-scoping principle

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