Electronic Systems Design Seminar
http://embedded.eecs.berkeley.edu/esd-seminar

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Compiling Esterel 

Professor Stephen Edwards
Columbia University, Department of Computer Science

Thursday, Sep 5, 2002, 5:00pm-6:00pm
540AB Cory Hall (DOP Center Classroom)

Abstract

The plummeting cost of hardware has enabled embedded systems to enter consumer products such as cellular phones and digital cameras. The cost of an error in such a high-volume device is skyrocketing, yet market pressures are forcing them to be developed ever more quickly. Despite this, many are still crafted with assembly language. Clearly, new approaches are needed.

I believe high-level design languages are the solution. Such languages simply avoid certain problems and can simplify the analysis of others. Unfortunately, traditional languages are not up to the two main challenges of embedded systems: concurrency and real-time predictability. While techniques like threads, semaphores, and real-time operating systems can help, they are notoriously unpredictable and error-prone.

My work has focused on the French language Esterel, which provides predictable concurrency by imposing a synchronous model of time like that used in synchronous digital systems. Providing this higher level of abstraction without sacrificing the efficiency and compactness of the generated code is a challenge, and attempts to compile the language have met with mixed success.

My first Esterel compiler is the first able to produce very efficient, compact code for large Esterel programs. The code-synthesis procedure translates the execution of concurrent threads of control with context switches into sequential code that runs without operating system support for concurrency. The result is code that can run up to a hundred times faster than the other high-capacity compiler.

In this talk, I review the Esterel language, discuss my first Esterel compiler, and describe ESUIF, a new Esterel compiler designed for research.

Speaker

Stephen A. Edwards received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1992, and the M.S. and Ph.D degrees, also in Electrical Engineering, from the University of California, Berkeley in 1994 and 1997 respectively. 

He is currently an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department of Columbia University in New York, which he joined in 2001 after a three-year stint with Synopsys, Inc., in Mountain View, California. 

His research interests include embedded system design, domain-specific languages, and compilers. He is the author of Languages for Digital Embedded Systems} (Boston: Kluwer, 2000) as well as numerous journal and conference papers.

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