2026-08-17T01:09:55Z https://drops.dagstuhl.de/oai

oai:drops-oai.dagstuhl.de:17792 2024-03-06T10:32:00Z ddc:004 open_access

Towards Modular Compilation Using Higher-Order Effects Reinders, Jaro S. algebraic effects and handlers higher-order effects monadic semantics modularity compilation nanopass Compilers transform a human readable source language into machine readable target language. Nanopass compilers simplify this approach by breaking up this transformation into small steps that are more understandable, maintainable, and extensible. We propose a semantics-driven variant of the nanopass compiler architecture exploring the use a effects and handlers to model the intermediate languages and the transformation passes, respectively. Our approach is fully typed and ensures that all cases in the compiler are covered. Additionally, by using an effect system we abstract over the control flow of the intermediate language making the compiler even more flexible. We apply this approach to a minimal compiler from a language with arithmetic and let-bound variables to a string of pretty printed X86 instructions. In the future, we hope to extend this work to compile a larger and more complicated language and we envision a formal verification framework from compilers written in this style. Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik Jaro S. Reinders 2023 Is Part Of OASIcs, Volume 109, Eelco Visser Commemorative Symposium (EVCS 2023) InProceedings Text doc-type:ResearchArticle publishedVersion application/pdf doi:10.4230/OASIcs.EVCS.2023.22 urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-177926 https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.EVCS.2023.22 eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode