Abstract
The synchronous language Esterel provides deterministic concurrency by adopting a semantics in which threads march in step with a global clock and communicate in a very disciplined way. Its expressive power comes at a cost, however: it is a difficult language to compile into machine code for standard von Neumann processors. The open-source Columbia Esterel Compiler is a research vehicle for experimenting with new code generation techniques for the language. Providing a front-end and a fairly generic concurrent intermediate representation, a variety of back-ends have been developed. We present three of the most mature ones, which are based on program dependence graphs, dynamic lists, and a virtual machine. After describing the very different algorithms used in each of these techniques, we present experimental results that compares twenty-four benchmarks generated by eight different compilation techniques running on seven different processors.
Highlights
Embedded software is often conveniently described as collections of concurrently running processes and implemented using a real-time operating system (RTOS).While the functionality provided by an RTOS is very flexible, the overhead incurred by such a general-purpose mechanism can be substantial
We discuss three code generation techniques for the Esterel language, which we have implemented in the open source Columbia Esterel compiler
We chose a variant of PotopButucaru’s [10] graph code (GRC) because it is the result of an evolution that started with the IC code due to Gontier and Berry, and it has proven itself as an elegant way to represent Esterel programs
Summary
Embedded software is often conveniently described as collections of concurrently running processes and implemented using a real-time operating system (RTOS).While the functionality provided by an RTOS is very flexible, the overhead incurred by such a general-purpose mechanism can be substantial. Executing synchronous languages efficiently facilitates the simulation of hardware systems. Implementing such languages efficiently is not straightforward since the detailed, instruction-level synchronization is difficult to implement efficiently with an RTOS. We discuss three code generation techniques for the Esterel language, which we have implemented in the open source Columbia Esterel compiler. Such automatic translation of Esterel into efficient executable code finds at least two common applications in a typical design flow. The final implementation may involve single-threaded code running on a microcontroller; generating automatically this from the specification can be a great help in reducing implementation mistakes
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
