The verifying compiler: A grand challenge for computing research

Abstract

This contribution proposes a set of criteria that distinguish a grand challenge in science or engineering from the many other kinds of short-term or long-term research problems that engage the interest of scientists and engineers. As an example drawn from Computer Science, it revives an old challenge: the construction and application of a verifying compiler that guarantees correctness of a program before running it.

References

1. Floyd, R. W. 1967. Assigning meanings to programs. Proc. Amer. Soc. Symp. Appl. Math. 19, 19--31.
2. Gray, J. 2003. What next? A dozen information-technology research goals. JACM 50, 1 (Jan.), 41--57.
3. McCarthy, J. 1963. Towards a mathematical theory of computation. Proc. IFIP Cong. 1962. North-Holland, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
4. Turing, A. M. 1949. Checking a large routine. Report on a Conference on High Speed Automatic Calculating Machines. Cambridge Univ. Math. Lab. 67--69.

Index Terms

• Social and professional topics

  • Professional topics

    • History of computing

• Software and its engineering

  • Software notations and tools

    • Compilers

  • Software organization and properties

    • Software functional properties

      • Correctness

• Theory of computation

  • Logic

    • Proof theory