Interleaving is Possible with Refined Abstract Machines: A New Approach to Engineering a Compiler

Abstract

We study abstract machines as a perspective from which to better approach the development of complex systems. We believe that abstract machines provide a form of modularity that has been largely under-appreciated, and that has the potential to yield varied and substantial benefits. An important notion in exploring the interaction of abstract machines is one of refinement of one machine by another, which provides the ability for processes, threads, programs, or even single instructions from several abstract machines to share processors and data.