Introduction to the Literature on Semantics

An introduction to the literature on semantics. Included are pointers to the literature on axiomatic semantics, denotational semantics, operational semantics, and type theory

Typed Equivalence of Effect Handlers and Delimited Control

It is folklore that effect handlers and delimited control operators are closely related: recently, this relationship has been proved in an untyped setting for deep handlers and the shift_0 delimited control operator. We positively resolve the conjecture that in an appropriately polymorphic type system this relationship can be extended to the level of types, by identifying the necessary forms of polymorphism, thus extending the definability result to the typed context. In the process, we identify a novel and potentially interesting type system feature for delimited control operators. Moreover, we extend these results to substantiate the folklore connection between shallow handlers and control_0 flavour of delimited control, both in an untyped and typed settings

Constant-Loop Dominators for Single-Path Code Optimization

Single-path code is a code generation technique specifically designed for real-time systems. It guarantees that programs execute the same instruction sequence regardless of runtime conditions. Single-path code uses loop bounds to ensure all loops iterate a fixed number of times equal to their upper loop bound. When the lower and upper bounds are equal, the loop must iterate the same number of times, which we call a constant loop. In this paper, we present the constant-loop dominance relation on control-flow graphs. It is a variation of the traditional dominance relation that considers constant loops to find basic blocks that are always executed the same number of times. Using this relation, we present an optimization that reduces the code needed to manage single-path code. Our evaluation shows significant performance improvements, with one example of up to 90%, with mostly minor effects on code size

An Analytical Approach to Programs as Data Objects

This essay accompanies a selection of 32 articles (referred to in bold face in the text and marginally marked in the bibliographic references) submitted to Aarhus University towards a Doctor Scientiarum degree in Computer Science.The author's previous academic degree, beyond a doctoral degree in June 1986, is an "Habilitation à diriger les recherches" from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI) in France; the corresponding material was submitted in September 1992 and the degree was obtained in January 1993.The present 32 articles have all been written since 1993 and while at DAIMI.Except for one other PhD student, all co-authors are or have been the author's students here in Aarhus

Subtype Universes

We introduce a new concept called a subtype universe, which is a collection of subtypes of a particular type. Amongst other things, subtype universes can model bounded quantification without undecidability. Subtype universes have applications in programming, formalisation and natural language semantics. Our construction builds on coercive subtyping, a system of subtyping that preserves canonicity. We prove Strong Normalisation, Subject Reduction and Logical Consistency for our system via transfer from its parent system UTT[?]. We discuss the interaction between subtype universes and other sorts of universe and compare our construction to previous work on Power types