Provably correct compiler development and implementation

Abstract

This paper reports on provably correct compiler implementation in the ESPRIT basic research action 3104 ProCoS (Provably Correct Systems). A sharp distinction is drawn between correctness of the specification of a compiler and correctness of the actual implementation. The first covers semantical correctness of the code to be generated, whereas the second concerns correctness of the compiler program with respect to the specification. The compiler construction framework presented aims at minimizing the amount of handcoding during implementation and at reusing specification correctness arguments for proving the implementation correct. The classical technique of bootstrapping compilers is revisited with respect to implementation correctness.

Certifying compilers using higher-order theorem provers as certificate checkers

“…The properties are verified by an automatic theorem prover which checks several necessary conditions that a program transformation has to fulfill. Important techniques and formalisms for compiler result checkers, decomposition of compilers, notions of semantical equivalence of source and target program as well as stack properties were developed in the Verifix project and are described by Goos and Zimmermann [21,44] and in the ProCoS project by Buth et al [3]. The development of a formally verified compiler for a C subset is part of the Verisoft project and its successors focussing on pervasive formal verification of computer systems and are presented by Leinenbach et al [26].…”

An Algebraic Approach to Compiler Design

“…The main goal is to ohtain an implementation of the compiler written in the source language itself. [15] discusses work which was carried out to develop an implementation of a compiler for an occam-like language extended with parameterless :recursive procedures.…”

“…In this case, we could run the specification to automatically translate the implementation of the compiler into machine code. But as pointed out in [15), the fonnal derivation of the implementation from the specification is by no me&ns a simple task.…”