How generic is a generic back end? using MLRISC as a back end for the TIL compiler

Abstract

We describe the integration of MLRISC, a “generic” compiler back end, with TIL, a type-directed compiler for Standard ML. The TIL run-time system uses a form of type information to enable partially tag-free garbage collection. We show how we propagate this information through the final phases of the compiler, even though the back end is unaware of the existence of this information. Additionally, we identify the characteristics of MLRISC that enable us to use it with TIL and suggest ways in which it might better support our compiler. Preliminary performance measurements show that we pay a significant cost for using MLRISC, relative to a custom back end.

This research was sponsored in part by the Advanced Research Projects Agency CSTO under the title “The Fox Project: Advanced Languages for Systems Software”, ARPA Order No. C533, issued by ESC/ENS under Contract No. F19628-95-C-0050, and in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CCR-9502674. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing official policies, either expressed or implied, of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation, or the U.S. Government.

This material is based on work supported under under a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.