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My First Fifteen Compilers
We sometimes think of the number of passes in a compiler as a measure of the compiler’s complexity. But what if we could make compiler development more approachable by fully embracing the ide…
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2
How to Give a Good Talk
In computer science, conferences are a focal point of academic attention. Conferences are a moment where computing communities—distributed over the globe—come together. Giving a talk at a conferenc…
3
Teaching Compilers Backward
Jean-Luc Godard is quoted as saying, “A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order.” What order is best to tell the story of a compiler?
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AI models need a virtual machine
Neural networks are more useful when placed in a suitable, specialized environment.
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Provably space-efficient parallel functional programming
You have heard your grandmother tell you many times: parallel programming is hard. In 2022, does it still have to be? Back in grandma’s heyday, they knew a cool and breezy way to do paralleli…
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Programming language notation is a barrier to entry
Research in programming languages offers powerful tools, but our systems of notation stymie outsiders. Can we change our notational approach and broaden our audience—without compromising on c…
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Story of the Flash Fill Feature in Excel
My POPL 2011 “Flash Fill” paper was the most important turning point in my research career. I went from searching for the hardest problem I can solve to searching for the simplest problem that will…
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High Performance Correctly Rounded Math Libraries for 32-Bit Floating Point
Everyone uses math libraries. Surprisingly, mainstream math libraries do not produce correct results for several thousands of inputs. Developers are seldom aware of them, which affects reproducibil…
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What’s the Role of Developer Experience in Programming Languages Research?
Programming languages papers often talk about usability advantages, but the evaluation sections of these papers tend to focus on performance or semantic guarantees. What if we applied methods from …