Compiler generation for parallel languages from denotational specifications

Abstract: There exist several systems for the generation of compiler front-ends from formal semantics. Systems that generate entire compilers have also started to appear. Many of these use attribute grammars as the specification formalism, but there also are systems based on operational semantics or denotational semantics. However, there are very few systems based on denotational semantics that generate compilers for parallel languages.The goal of this thesis is to show that it is possible to automatically generate an efficient compiler for a parallel language from a denotational specification. We propose a two-level structure for the formal description. The high level uses denotational semantics, whereas the low-level part consists of an abstract machine including data-parallel operations.This thesis concentrates on the high-level denotational part. A prototype compiler for a small Algol-like parallel language has been generated using a modified version of the DML (Denotational Meta Language) system back-end. A fixed operational semantics in the form of a low-level language that includes data-parallel operations is used as target during the generation.