Article Free Access Share on A semantics-directed partitioning of a processor architecture Authors: Peter L. Bird Advanced Computer Research Institute, 1, Blvd Vivier-Merle, 69443 Lyon, Cedex 03 France Advanced Computer Research Institute, 1, Blvd Vivier-Merle, 69443 Lyon, Cedex 03 FranceView Profile , Uwe F. Pleban Applied Dynamics International, 3800 Stone School Rd., Ann Arbor, MI Applied Dynamics International, 3800 Stone School Rd., Ann Arbor, MIView Profile Authors Info & Claims Supercomputing '91: Proceedings of the 1991 ACM/IEEE conference on SupercomputingAugust 1991 Pages 702–709https://doi.org/10.1145/125826.126162Published:01 August 1991Publication History 1citation152DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations1Total Downloads152Last 12 Months5Last 6 weeks0 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

We are implementing a Scheme development system for the Motorola 88000. The core of the implementation is an optimizing native code compiler, together with a carefully designed runtime system. This paper describes our experiences with the 88000 as a target architecture. We focus on the design decisions concerning the runtime system, particularly with respect to data type representations, tag checking, procedure calling protocol, generic arithmetic, and the handling of continuations. We also discuss rejected design alternatives, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the instruction set with respect to our constraints.

We describe the automatic generation of a complete, realistic compiler from formal specifications of the syntax and semantics of Sol/C, a nontrivial imperative language “sort of like C.” The compiler exhibits a three pass structure, is efficient, and produces object programs whose performance characteristics compare favorably with those produced by commercially available compilers. To our knowledge, this is the first time that this has been accomplished.

We have developed a new style of semantic definition called high-level semantics. In constrast to traditional denotational semantics, high-level semantics is suitable for both defining the functional meaning of programming languages, as well as describing realistic compiler implementations. Moreover, high-level specifications are considerably more descriptive and intelligible than traditional specifications.

We have developed a complete formal specification of the translation semantics of the Pascal P-compiler. The specification is written as a semantic grammar (a variant of extended attribute grammars), and has been extensively tested and debugged with the aid of Lawrence Paulson's experimental semantics processor. The translation semantics models the operational aspects of compilation in detail. It is one-pass, embodying static semantic checking, address assignment, code generation, and a certain amount of code improvement. Our paper describes the development history of the project, compares the new compiler with the existing P-compiler, and discusses our positive experience with semantic grammars and Paulson's system.