Using Gradually Typed Symbolic Expressions for Embedding Domain-Specific Modeling Languages
COM2 Level 4
Executive Classroom, COM2-04-02
Abstract:
Domain-specific modeling languages can be used in various domains, such as modeling, simulation, and verification of cyber-physical systems. Specifically, embedding a domain-specific language (DSL) in a general purpose host language is an efficient way to develop a new DSL. Various kinds of languages and paradigms can be used as host languages, including object-oriented, functional, statically typed, and dynamically typed variants, all having their pros and cons. For deep embedding, statically typed languages enable early checking and potentially good DSL error messages, instead of reporting runtime errors. Dynamically typed languages, on the other hand, enable flexible transformations, thus avoiding extensive boilerplate code. In this talk, I will discuss the concept of gradually typed symbolic expressions that mix static and dynamic typing for symbolic data. The key idea is to combine the strengths of dynamic and static typing in the context of deep embedding of DSLs.
Biodata:
David Broman is an Associate Professor at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, where he is leading the Model-based Computing Systems (MCS) research group. Between 2012 and 2014, he was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also was employed as a part-time researcher until 2016. David received his PhD in Computer Science in 2010 from Linkoping University, Sweden, and was appointed Assistant Professor there in 2011. He earned a Docent degree in Computer Science in 2015. His research focuses on the model-based design of time-aware systems, including cyber-physical systems, embedded systems, and real-time systems. In particular, he is interested in programming and modeling language theory, formal semantics, compilers, and machine learning. David has received an outstanding paper award at RTAS (co-authored 2018), the best paper award in the journal Software & Systems Modeling (SoSyM award 2018), the award as teacher of the year, selected by the student union at KTH (2017).