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The VLISP verified PreScheme compiler

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LISP and Symbolic Computation

Abstract

This paper describes a verified compiler for PreScheme, the implementation language for thevlisp run-time system. The compiler and proof were divided into three parts: A transformational front end that translates source text into a core language, a syntax-directed compiler that translates the core language into a combinator-based tree-manipulation language, and a linearizer that translates combinator code into code for an abstract stored-program machine with linear memory for both data and code. This factorization enabled different proof techniques to be used for the different phases of the compiler, and also allowed the generation of good code. Finally, the whole process was made possible by carefully defining the semantics ofvlisp PreScheme rather than just adopting Scheme's. We believe that the architecture of the compiler and its correctness proof can easily be applied to compilers for languages other than PreScheme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Computer Science, Northeastern University, 161 Cullinane Hall, 02115, Boston, MA

    Dino P. Oliva & Mitchell Wand

  2. The MITRE Corporation, 202 Burlington Road, 01730-1420, Bedford, MA

    John D. Ramsdell

Authors
  1. Dino P. Oliva
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  2. John D. Ramsdell
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  3. Mitchell Wand
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Additional information

This work was supported by Rome Laboratory of the United States Air Force, contract No. F19628-89-C-0001, through the MITRE Corporation, and by NSF and DARPA under NSF grants CCR-9002253 and CCR-9014603. Author's current address: Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Oregon Graduate Institute, P.O. Box 91000, Portland, OR 97291-1000.

The work reported here was supported by Rome Laboratory of the United States Air Force, contract No. F19628-89-C-0001. Preparation of this paper was generously supported by The MITRE Corporation.

This work was supported by Rome Laboratory of the United States Air Force, contract No. F19628-89-C-0001, through the MITRE Corporation, and by NSF and DARPA under NSF grants CCR-9002253 and CCR-9014603.

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Oliva, D.P., Ramsdell, J.D. & Wand, M. The VLISP verified PreScheme compiler. Lisp and Symbolic Computation 8, 111–182 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01128408

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