Metaprogramming Techniques Research Articles

A Domain Specific Embedded Language in C++ for Automatic Differentiation, Projection, Integration and Variational Formulations

In this article, we present a domain specific embedded language in C++ that can be used in various contexts such as numerical projection onto a functional space, numerical integration, variational formulations and automatic differentiation. Albeit these tools operate in different ways, the language overcomes this difficulty by decoupling expression constructions from evaluation. The language is implemented using expression templates and meta‐programming techniques and uses various Boost libraries. The language is exercised on a number of non‐trivial examples and a benchmark presents the performance behavior on a few test problems.

GENERATIVE AND ADAPTIVE METHODS IN PERFORMANCE PROGRAMMING

Performance programming is characterized by the need to structure software components to exploit the context of use. Relevant context includes the target processor architecture, the available resources (number of processors, network capacity), prevailing resource contention, the values and shapes of input and intermediate data structures, the schedule and distribution of input data delivery, and the way the results are to be used. This paper concerns adapting to dynamic context: adaptive algorithms, malleable and migrating tasks, and application structures based on dynamic component composition. Adaptive computations use metadata associated with software components — performance models, dependence information, data size and shape. Computation itself is interwoven with planning and optimizing the computation process, using this metadata. This reflective nature motivates metaprogramming techniques. We present a research agenda aimed at developing a modelling framework which allows us to characterize both computation and dynamic adaptation in a way that allows systematic optimization.

Soft IP Customisation Model Based on Metaprogramming Techniques

We propose a layered Soft IP Customisation (SIPC) model for specifying and implementing system-level soft IP design processes such as wrapping and customisation. The SIPC model has three layers: (1) Specification Layer for specification of a customisation process using UML class diagrams, (2) Generalisation Layer for representation of a customisation process using the metaprogramming techniques, and (3) Generation Layer for generation of the customised soft IP instances from metaspecifications. UML allows us to specify customisation of soft IPs at a high level of abstraction. Metaprogramming allows us to manage variability in a domain, develop generic domain components, and describe generation of customised component instances. The usage of the SIPC model eases and accelerates reuse, adaptation and integration of the pre-designed soft IPs into new hardware designs.

Eliminating redundancies with a "composition with adaptation" meta-programming technique

Redundant code obstructs program understanding and contributes to high maintenance costs. While most experts agree on that, opinions - on how serious the problem of redundancies really is and how to tackle it - differ. In this paper, we present the study of redundancies in the Java Buffer library, JDK 1.4.1, which was recently released by Sun. We found that at least 68% of code in the Buffer library is redundant in the sense that it recurs in many classes in the same or slightly modified form. We effectively eliminated that 68% of code at the meta-level using a technique based on "composition with adaptation" called XVCL. We argue that such a program solution is easier to maintain than buffer classes with redundant code. In this experiment, we have designed our meta-representation so that we could produce buffer classes in exactly the same form as they appear in the original Buffer library. While we have been tempted to re-design the buffer classes, we chose not to do so, in order to allow for the seamless integration of the XVCL solution into contemporary programming methodologies and systems. This decision has not affected the essential results reported in this paper.

Wrapping of Soft IPs for Interface‐based Design Using Heterogeneous Metaprogramming

We discuss the application of heterogeneous metaprogramming (MPG) for the interface-based design, which deals with the synthesis of the communication interfaces between Intellectual Property components (IPs). Heterogeneous MPG is based on the simultaneous usage of a domain language for describing domain functionality and a metalanguage for developing generic components and program generators. We present a design framework based on the MPG techniques. The novelty of our approach is that we apply the concept of heterogeneous MPG for the automatic generation of IP wrappers for communication between the third-party soft IPs systematically. We present a case study for the synthesis of the communication interfaces using a FIFO protocol.

A pragmatic type concept for Prolog supporting polymorphism, subtyping, and meta-programming

Approaches to typing logic programs often exclude various features of Standard Prolog. The system “Typical for annotated Prolog” (TaP) is a pragmatic approach to type checking programs written in Prolog without restricting the scope of the language. TaP checks Prolog programs that are extended with type declarations that support parametric polymorphism and subtyping. The purpose of this paper is to present an approach that extends Typical by meta-types for handling Prolog meta-programming techniques.

A program specialiser for meta-level compositions of logic programs

Meta-level compositions of object logic programs are naturally implemented by means of meta-programming techniques. Meta-interpreters defining program compositions however suffer from a computational overhead that is due partly to the interpretation layer present in all meta-programs, and partly to the specific interpretation layer needed to deal with program compositions. We show that meta-interpreters implementing compositions of object programs can be fruitfully specialised w.r.t. meta-level queries of the form "Demo(E,G)", where "E" denotes a program expression and "G" denotes a (partially instantiated) object level query. More precisely, we describe the design and implementation of a declarative program specialiser that suitably transforms such meta-interpreters so as to sensibly reduce --- if not to completely remove --- the overhead due to the handling of program compositions. In many cases the specialiser succeeds in eliminating also the overhead due to meta-interpretation.

Using flat concurrent Prolog in system modeling

The flat concurrent Prolog (FCP) language, which enables the implementation of synchronization through data flow, communication through shared variables, parallelism through the reduction of the AND components in the clause's body, and indeterminacy through guarded commands, is discussed. It is shown that FCP, used in conjunction with Petri net methods, forms a powerful tool in the modeling of parallel systems that involve concurrency. The simulation of systems represented by various types of Petri nets is achieved using the reduction process of FCP. AND parallelism supports free competition among conflicting enabled transitions. A structural analysis of systems is provided using the metaprogramming technique.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

ObjVProlog-D: a reflexive object-oriented logic language for distributed computing

The ObjVProlog-D programming language extends logic programming with concepts of object-oriented and distributed programming, providing a semantically complete and coherent model inspired by ObjV-Lisp where metaclasses are treated as first-class entities. It is based on concurrent logic objects interacting through remote logic method calls. It preserves the Prolog don't know nondeterminism by implementing distributed backtracking to search for all solutions to goals. It uses asynchronous messages for communication and future logic variables for synchronization. Furthermore, its metaclass and reflexive features improve significantly the use of widespread metaprogramming techniques. ObjVProlog-D is implemented in Quintus Prolog and distributed applications have run on a network of workstations.