[pept:101] (fwd) PhD studies in France

[Olivier Danvy <danvy@xxxxxxxx> (by way of Robert Glueck)]

Design of Operating Systems, using aspects and domain-specific languages

KLEE group, EMN/INRIA

Supervisor: Gilles Muller

Background
----------
The development of operating systems is traditionally considered to be an
activity on the fringe of software development.  In fact, the lack of
systematic methodologies for OS design often translates into closed systems
that are difficult to extend and modify.  Too often generality is
sacrificed for performance. The widespread use of unsafe programming
languages, combined with extensive manual optimizations, compromises the
safety of OS software.

Subject
-------
The goal of the proposed thesis is to develop a new methodology based on
the use of aspect-oriented programming and domain-specific languages for
the structuring of an OS and an OS kernel.  Aspect-oriented programming is
a technique for specifying behaviors (or strategies) independently of the
target system; a "weaver" automatically integrates the code of such an
aspect into the relevant system components.  This approach separates
strategies, which are programmed using aspects, from the underlying
mechanisms, and thus simplifies system evolution and extension.

A domain-specific language (DSL) is a programming language dedicated to a
particular application domain.  A DSL is more restricted than a
general-purpose language, such as Java or C, but encapsulates domain
expertise that can allow verification of important safety properties.  In
the context of aspect-oriented programming, we propose to use DSLs to
program new aspects.  This approach facilitates the safe programming of new
strategies.

The combination of aspect-oriented programming and domain-specific
languages has been partially validated in the context of Bossa, a DSL for
the design of kernel schedulers (http://www.emn.fr/info/perso/bossa).  The
goal of the proposed thesis is to generalize this approach to other OS
sub-systems.

Requirements
------------
This thesis topic is directed toward a student who is very interested in
the design of operating systems.  It will include work in the following
areas: programming-language design, aspect-oriented programming, and OS
kernel development.

For more information:
   http://www.emn.fr/klee
   http://www.emn.fr/info/perso/muller/

Financial support
-----------------
Fellowship from the Ecole des Mines de Nantes: around 1275 euros/month.

Location
--------
The "Ecole des Mines de Nantes" is located in Nantes
(population 500 000). Nantes is in the north-western part of France, 2
hours from Paris (by train), 1 hour from the "chateaux de la Loire"
and 45 minutes from the coast. http://www.nantes-tourisme.com/

Application procedure
---------------------
Applicants should send a vitae and 3 letters of reference to
Gilles.Muller@emn.fr