The idea of virtual machines (VMs) and the use of bytecode abstraction is central to modern computing, serving as an important link between programming languages and the actual hardware. The operational layer created by using virtual machines (VMs) is portable, secure, and consistent regardless of the number of different platforms used, because compilers will always have a stable instruction set to compile for. This architectural characteristic not only enables applications to run across different platforms but also influences how the program is executed, managed, and controlled. Knowledge of…
Category: Bottom-Driven Semantic Monotonicity
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Author: Asher Wolfstein Published under the auspices of the University of Neo-Transylvania Experimental Research This is Part 7 of a proposed 18-part series titled Failed Abstractions: Interfaces Gone Wild. Optimization involves replacing one program form or execution plan with a more optimal version, and it is based on the claim that the change preserves the relevant aspects of the given semantic contract. For example, These techniques are essential to much of contemporary performance engineering, and the validity of these methods can range from heuristic confidence based on testing…
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Author: Asher Wolfstein Published under the auspices of the University of Neo-Transylvania Experimental Research This is Part 6 of a proposed 18-part series titled Failed Abstractions: Interfaces Gone Wild. An Intermediate Representation (IR) is a carefully selected description of a program, being designed in such a way that a certain set of questions can more easily be posed and answered. A typed tree makes the declarations, the applications, and the properties that are inferred explicit; a control-flow graph makes the various transfers of execution available for use in…
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Author: Asher Wolfstein Published under the auspices of the University of Neo-Transylvania Experimental Research This is Part 5 of a proposed 18-part series titled Failed Abstractions: Interfaces Gone Wild. Compilation provides an expression defined in an abstract language with an executable form for another operational system, while lowering involves the (sometimes gradual) elimination, or breakdown, of features that the target system does not directly support. Some examples include: Such modifications represent engineering achievements that undeniably involve specifications for correctness and even, in some cases, proofs. Moreover, such changes…
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Author: Asher Wolfstein Published under the auspices of the University of Neo-Transylvania Experimental Research This is Part 4 of hopefully 18 of a series titled Failed Abstractions: Interfaces Gone Wild. Parsing is usually introduced as a tidy recognition solution: given an input and a grammar, the parser must decide whether the input belongs to the language described by the grammar. Simple enough. And if it does, the parser builds a syntactic structure that the rest of the system ‘downstream’ employs. That summary is semi-useful. It serves as a…
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This is Part 3 of a series titled Failed Abstractions: Interfaces Gone Wild.
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This is Part 2 of a series titled Failed Abstractions: Interfaces Gone Wild.
… Any proposed alternative must specify a goal different from the average goal of the current abstractive framework. Unfortunately, there appears to be an abundance of goals in varying opposition in the software ecosystem. In fact, the further the abstractive process is undertaken, the more divergent the seeming goals. …
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A proposed set of eighteen articles examining the oft-overlooked failures of translation, the way they create drifts in terms of semantic authority, and the prospects for accountable extension.