PIL: A Platform Independent Language for Retargetable DSLs

Abstract

Abstract. Intermediate languages are used in compiler construction to simplify retargeting compilers to multiple machine architectures. In the implementation of domain-specific languages (DSLs), compilers typically generate high-level source code, rather than low-level machine instructions. DSL compilers target a software platform, i.e. a programming language with a set of libraries, deployable on one or more operating systems. DSLs enable targeting multiple software platforms if its abstractions are platform independent. While transformations from DSL to each targeted platform are often conceptually very similar, there is little reuse between transformations due to syntactic and API differences of the target platforms, making supporting multiple platforms expensive. In this paper, we discuss the design and implementation of PIL, a Platform Independent Language, an intermediate language providing a layer of abstraction between DSL and target platform code, abstracting from syntactic and API differences between platforms, thereby removing the need for platform-specific transformations. We discuss the use of PIL in an implemementation of WebDSL, a DSL for building web applications.

The spoofax language workbench

“…-Aster [31], an attribute grammar language based on strategies for description of attribute propagation patterns. -PIL [24], a Java-like, object-oriented programming language that targets multiple software platforms.…”

MobDSL: A Domain Specific Language for multiple mobile platform deployment

“…The more recent DSLs in other areas include [6] which concentrates on the abstraction of web applications to lower the overall complexity of the application and boilerplate code. Further work on this DSL lead to the creation of Platform Independent Language (PIL) [19]. PIL was developed as an intermediate language, to provide a scalable method for developing for multiple platforms.…”

Encapsulating Software Platform Logic by Aspect-Oriented Programming: A Case Study in Using Aspects for Language Portability

“…There have been many proposals of intermediate languages to address compilation to multiple host languages, starting with languages such as the Universal Computer Oriented Language UNCOL [21] to more recent works such as C-- [7] and PIL [5]. These languages form an excellent complementary technique to our approach, eliminating much of the work required in implementing backends for multiple platforms.…”