October 2005 Northeastern Talk

In October of 2005, I gave a talk with the following abstract at Northeastern University in Boston:

Software developers have long understood that real applications are built out of components in different languages and connected using a variety of different strategies. For example, foreign function interface systems like SWIG connect high-level languages to low-level languages; component frameworks like COM and CORBA connect high-level languages to each other; and domain-specific languages such as Yacc are embedded into their host languages in such a away that control and data flow back and forth between the programs.

In this talk I will present a general technique for modelling the operational semantics of multilanguage systems such as these. The technique is simple and general, and surprisingly connects traditional multilanguage systems to seemingly unrelated concepts such as contracts.

Joint work with Robert B. Findler

Here you can get resources related to that talk.

• The talk slides (3.5MB PDF file)
• An executable version of the "lump embedding" from the talk, encoded as a PLT Redex program (requires PLT Scheme v299 or later to run)
• An executable version of the "natural embedding" from the talk, encoded as a PLT Redex program (requires PLT Scheme v299 or later to run)

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