Trends In Languages 2010

i n g e n i e u r b ü r o f ü r s o f t w a r e t e c h n o l o g i e w w w.voelter.de © 2007-10 Markus Völter
Trends in Languages 2010
- 1 -
Markus Völter
Indepedent/itemis
voelter@acm.org
www.voelter.de
Trends in Languages
2009 Edition

- 2 -
Markus Völter
voelter@acm.org
www.voelter.de
• Independent Consultant
for itemis
• Based out of Stuttgart,
Germany
• Focus on
• Model-Driven Software
Development, DSLs
• Software Architecture
• Product Line Engineering
About me
- 2 -
Podcaster

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C O N T E N T S
• Intro and Overview
• Typing
• OO +/vs. Functional
• Metaprogramming & DSLs
• Contracts
• Concurrency
• Platforms
• Tools
• Summary

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C O N T E N T S
• Typing
• Contracts
• Concurrency
• Platforms
• Tools
• Summary

- 5 -
Why this talk?
• Language World is changing
• Mainstream Languages evolve (Java, C#)
• Diverisfication: Ruby, Erlang, Scala, Groovy, …
• I want to illustrate interesting trends
• Explain some of the controversy and
backgrounds.

- 6 -
C O N T E N T S
• Typing
• Contracts
• Concurrency
• Platforms
• Tools
• Summary

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Strongly Typed vs. Weakly Typed
• Does a language have types at all?
• Are those typed checked at all?
• C weakly typed:
• (void*)
• Interpret string as a number, and vice versa
• The compiler has a „hole“
• Community agrees that weak typing is bad.
• Opposite: Strongly Typed.
• When are types checked?

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Strongly Typed: Dynamic vs. Static
• A strongly typed language can check types at
• Compile time: Statically Typed Language
• Runtime: Dynamically Typed Language
• Most mainstream languages use static typing:
• Java
• C#
• (C++)
• Dynamic Typing associated with „scripting languages“
• What is a „scripting language“
• Is Smalltalk a scripting language? It is dynamically typed!
• Term is not very useful!
• Static Backdoor: Casting
• Defers type check to runtime

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Strongly Typed: Dynamic vs. Static II
• „Static is better, because the compiler finds more errors
for you“
• „Dynamic is better; more expressive code, and you have
to test anyway.“
• XOR? No, context dependent:
• Safety Critical Software: Static Typing
• Agile Web Applications: Dynamic Typing
• But there‘s more…

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Duck Typing
• A form of Dynamic Typing
“if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck,
I would call it a duck”
• where not the declared type is relevant
• but the ability at runtime to handle messages/method
calls
• A handler for a message (method implementation) can be
• Defined by its type
• Be object-specific
• Added at runtime via meta programming
• A predefined callback („doesNotUnderstand“) is invoked
in case a message cannot be handled.
• Examples: Smalltalk, Ruby

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Structural Types: Duck Typing for Static Languages
• Compiler checks, whether something can satisfy context
requirements.
• Formal type is not relevant
• Example I: C++ Templates
• Example II: Scala
class Person(name: String) {
def getName(): String = name
…
}
def printName(o: { def getName(): String }) {
print(o.getName)
}
printName( new Person(“markus”) ) // prints “markus”
Scala

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Type Inference: Omit unnecessary type specs
• Compiler Smarts: You only have to write down those types
the compiler cannot derive from the context
• Example: (Hypothetical) Java
• Example II: C# 3.0, LINQ
// valid Java
Map<String, MyType> m = new HashMap<String, MyType>();
// Hypothetical Java with Type inference
var m = new HashMap<String, MyType>();
Address[] addresses = …
var res = from a in addresses
select new { name = a.name(),
tel = a.telephoneNo() };
foreach (var r in res) {
Console.WriteLine("Name: {0}, Num: {1}", r.name, r.tel);
}
// valid Scala
var m = new HashMap[String, MyType]();
Java
Scala
C# 3

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Dynamic Typing in static languages? Maybe!
• One could add dynamic (runtime) dispatch to static
languages with the following approach (discussion with Anders
Hejlsberg for SE Radio)
• Combine this, eg. with load-time meta programming…
// language-predefined interface, like Serializable
interface IDynamicDispatch {
void attributeNotFound(AttrAccessInfo info)
void methodNotFound(MethodCallInfo info
}
class MyOwnDynamicClass implements IDynamicDispatch {
// implement the …notFound(…) methods and
}
val o = new MyOwnDynamicClass
o.something() // compiler translates this into an
// invocation via reflection. If it fails,
// call methodNotFound(…)
Java?
Java?

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Optional/Pluggable Types
• Fundamentally, types are checked at runtime
• However, optionally one can add type annotations that
are checked statically by a type checker
• Why should types be treated differently than any other form of
meta data that is worth checking? Concurrency, Timing, …
• Types are just meta data for which a checker is available
• Several different kinds of meta data (i.e. type systems)
can be optionally overlayed over the same program
• Like static analysis tools that rely on custom annotations
in Java (@CanBeNull)
• Example: Newspeak / Gilad Braha

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C O N T E N T S
• Typing
• Contracts
• Concurrency
• Platforms
• Tools
• Summary

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OO and Functional
• OO is clearly mainstream.
• That is changing (very) slowly … especially functional
programming is taking up speed.
• What is functional programming (as in Erlang, Lisp, F#)
• Function Signatures are types
• Function Literals are available (lambda expressions)
• Functions are values: assignable to variables and
parameters  Higher Order Functions
• You can find elements of this in
Ruby, Groovy, C# 3 and Scala
• Scala‘s primary goal is to unify OO and functional
• (also: side-effect free; important later wrt concurrency)

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From Primitive To Workable
• Primitive functional programming can be done with
• Function pointers (as in C/C++)
• Delegates (C# < 3)
• Command Pattern/Inner Classes in Java
• Better solution: Closures
(aka lamda expressions, blocks, anonymous functions)
• Anonymous Functions (Function Literals)
[1,2,3,4,5,6].each { |element| puts (element * 2) }
Ruby
x: Int => x + 1
Scala

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Higher Order Functions
• Function Signatures (Function Types)
• Function Signatures/Types are important for
Higher Order Functions:
• Functions that take other functions as arguments
• … or return them
Int => Int // Int Parameter, Return Type Int
(Int, Int) => String // Two Int Parameter, returns String
Scala
def apply(f: Int => String, v: Int) => f(v)
Scala

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Currying
• Functions called with fewer arguments than they formally
expect return new functions with the given parameters
bound
• Name „currying“ based on Haskell Curry
(yes, his first name was used for the Haskell language)
> let add a b = a + b;;
val add : int -> int -> int
F#
> let add10 = add 10;;
val add10 : int -> int
F#
> add10 5;;
15
F#

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Pattern Matching
• Checking for and extracting the structure of data
• Especially useful for discriminated unions (F#) or case
classes (Scala) to decompose tree structures (e.g.
expression trees)
> let t = (42, „text");;
val tuple : int * string
> let (num, str) = tuple;;
val num : int // 42
val str : string // „text“
F#
> type Expr =
| Op of string * Expr * Expr
| Var of string
| Const of int;;
(…)
> // y*42
let expr = Op("+", Var "x", Const 10);;
val v : expr
F#

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Pattern Matching II
• A simple evaluator for the expressions using
pattern matching
• Patterns can deconstruct the composition structure of
complex data structures and assign local variables to the
parts of the data structure.
> let rec eval x = match x with
| Op(op, l, r) -> let (lv, rv) = (eval l, eval r)
if (op = "+") then lv + rv
elif (op = "-") then lv - rv
else failwith "Unknonw operator!"
| Var(var) -> getFromSymbolTable var
| Const(n) -> n;;
val eval : Expr -> int
F#

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?
?(defn move-to [shape x y] (merge shape {:x x :y y}))
(defn r-move-to [shape x y] (move-to shape (+ (shape :x) x) (+ (shape :y) y)))
(derive ::rectangle ::shape)
(derive ::circle ::shape)
(defn rectangle [x y w h] (with-meta {:x x :y y :width w :height h} {:type
::rectangle}))
(defn circle [x y r] (with-meta {:x x :y y :radius r} {:type ::circle}))
(defmulti draw (fn [shape] ((meta shape) :type)))
(defmethod draw ::rectangle [rect]
(println (str "Draw a Rectangle at:(" (rect :x) ", " (rect :y)
"), width " (rect :width) ", height " (rect :height))))
(defmethod draw ::circle [circle]
(println (str "Draw a Cicrle at:(" (circle :x) ", " (circle :y)
"), radius " (circle :radius))))
(def scribble [(rectangle 10 20 5 6) (circle 15 25 8)])
(doseq [shape scribble]
(draw shape)
(let [s (r-move-to shape 100 100)]
(draw s)))
(draw (assoc (rectangle 0 0 15 15) :width 30))

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Clojure – a Lisp for the JVM
(defn move-to [shape x y] (merge shape {:x x :y y}))
(defn r-move-to [shape x y] (move-to shape (+ (shape :x) x) (+ (shape :y) y)))
(derive ::rectangle ::shape)
(derive ::circle ::shape)
(defn rectangle [x y w h] (with-meta {:x x :y y :width w :height h} {:type
::rectangle}))
(defn circle [x y r] (with-meta {:x x :y y :radius r} {:type ::circle}))
(defmulti draw (fn [shape] ((meta shape) :type)))
(defmethod draw ::rectangle [rect]
(println (str "Draw a Rectangle at:(" (rect :x) ", " (rect :y)
"), width " (rect :width) ", height " (rect :height))))
(defmethod draw ::circle [circle]
(println (str "Draw a Cicrle at:(" (circle :x) ", " (circle :y)
"), radius " (circle :radius))))
(def scribble [(rectangle 10 20 5 6) (circle 15 25 8)])
(doseq [shape scribble]
(draw shape)
(let [s (r-move-to shape 100 100)]
(draw s)))
(draw (assoc (rectangle 0 0 15 15) :width 30))
Clojure
Example from
http://onestepback.org/arti
cles/poly/oo-clojure.html
• Lisp is the grand daddy of functional programming.
• Clojure is a new Lisp for the VM with good Java interop
and very nice support for concurrency (see later)

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C O N T E N T S
• Typing
• Contracts
• Concurrency
• Platforms
• Tools
• Summary

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What is Metaprogramming?
• A program can inspect and modify itself or other programs.
• Not a new concept: Lisp, CLOS
• But returning to fame these days…
• Two different flavours:
• Static/Compile Time metaprog. : handled by compiler
• Dynamic metaprog.: done at runtime
(fits well with Duck Typing … you can call what‘s there)
• Static Meta Programming is a relative niche concept
(aka hygienic macro system) … see section on DSLs
• C++ Template Metaprogramming (aargh!)
• Template Haskell
• Converge
• Boo

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Dynamic Metaprogramming
• Is available in many dynamic OO languages, such as
Smalltalk, Ruby, Groovy
• Dynamically add a new method to a class:
• What happens in Duck languages, if you call a method
that‘s not available? Remember, no compiler type check!
class SomeClass
define_method(“foo”){ puts "foo" }
End
SomeClass.new.foo // prints “foo“
Ruby
class Sammler {
def data = [:]
def propertyMissing =
{String name, value-> data [name] = value }
def propertyMissing =
{String name-> data [name] }
}
Groovy
def s = new Sammler()
s.name = "Voelter"
s.vorname = „Markus“
s.name // is „Voelter“

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Meta Object Protocols
• MOPs support „overwriting“ the interpreter typically via the
concept of meta classes.
• Here we overwrite what it means to call a method:
• Yes, this looks like the AOP standard example 
• In fact, AO has evolved from MOPs (in CLOS)
• And now we‘re back to MOPs as a way for „simple AO“…
strange world …
class LoggingClass {
def invokeMethod(String name, args) {
println “just executing “+name
// execute original method definition
}
}
Groovy

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Macro systems
• Macros are transformations of program code that are
executed by the compiler during compilation.
• Quotation (and unquotation) is used
• Powerful way to define new language syntax
(Growing a Language, Guy Steele)
• Works especially well for „syntaxless“ languages.
(defmacro with-connection [& body]
`(binding [*conn* (get-connection)]
(let [ret# (do ~@body)]
(.close *conn*)
ret#
)
)
)
(with-connection (str *conn*))
Clojure

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What are DSLs?
• Domain can be business or technical (such as
architecture)
• The „program“ needs to be precise and processable, but
not necessarily executable.
• Also called model or specification
A DSL is a focused, processable language for
describing a specific concern when building a
system in a specific domain. The abstractions
and notations used are tailored to the
stakeholders who specify that particular concern.

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Internal DSLs vs. External DSLs
• Internal DSLs are defined as part of a host language.
• DSL „program“ is embedded in a host language program
• It is typically interpreted by facilities in the host
language/program ( metaprogramming)
• DoF for syntax customization is limited by host
language
•Only useful in languages with a flexible syntax (such as
Ruby) or no syntax (Lisp )
• External DSLs are defined independent of any
programming language
• A program stands on its own.
• It is either interpreted by a custom-build interpreter, or
translated into executable code
• DoF for syntax customization only limited by custom
editor (i.e. not really limited at all: graphical, textual,
tables, combinations of those…)

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Dynamic Internal DSL Examples: Ruby
• Ruby is currently the most suitable language for
internal DSLs.
• has_one and has_many are actually invocations of class
methods of the ActiveRecord::Base super class.
• Alternative Syntax:
• The original notation is an example of Ruby‘s flexible
syntax (optional parens, symbols)
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_one :adress
has_many :telecontact
end
class Address < ActiveRecord::Base
end
Ruby
has_one(„adress“)
Ruby

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Dynamic Internal DSL Examples: Ruby II
• The has_one and has_many invocations dynamically
create accessors for properties of the same name:
• The methods are implemented via meta programming.
• They do all kinds of magic wrt. to the database backend
used in Rails.
p = Person.new
a = Adress.new
p.adress = a
p.adress == a
Ruby

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Static Internal DSL Examples: Scala
• The following uses loop/unless as if it were a Scala
language feature (which it is not!)
• In fact, it is implemented as a library relying on automatic
closure construction and the use of methods in
operator notation.
var i = 10;
loop {
Console.println("i = " + i)
i = i-1
} unless (i == 0)
Scala
def loop(body: => Unit): LoopUnlessCond =
new LoopUnlessCond(body);
private class LoopUnlessCond(body: => Unit) {
def unless(cond: => Boolean): Unit = {
body
if (!cond) unless(cond);
}
}
Scala

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Static Internal DSL Examples: Boo
• Boo has a full hygienic macro system (open compiler)
• Use it like native language syntax!
public interface ITransactionable:
def Dispose(): pass
def Commit(): pass
def Rollback(): pass
Boo
macro transaction:
return [|
tx as ITransactionable = $(transaction.Arguments[0])
try:
$(transaction.Body)
tx.Commit()
except:
tx.Rollback()
raise
finally:
tx.Dispse()
|]
Boo
transaction GetNewDatabaseTransaction():
DoSomethingWithTheDatabase()
Boo

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Static Internal DSL Examples: Boo
• Boo has a full hygienic macro system (open compiler)
• Use it like native language syntax!
public interface ITransactionable:
def Dispose(): pass
def Commit(): pass
def Rollback(): pass
Boo
macro transaction:
return [|
tx as ITransactionable = $(transaction.Arguments[0])
try:
$(transaction.Body)
tx.Commit()
except:
tx.Rollback()
raise
finally:
tx.Dispse()
|]
Boo
transaction GetNewDatabaseTransaction():
DoSomethingWithTheDatabase()
Boo

Static Internal DSL Examples: Boo II
• See how the Expression type is used to pass in
AST/syntax elements (in this case, an expression)
[ensure(name is not null)]
class Customer:
name as string
def constructor(name as string): self.name = name
def SetName(newName as string): name = newName
Boo
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class)]
class EnsureAttribute(AbstractAstAttribute):
expr as Expression
def constructor(expr as Expression):
self.expr = expr
def Apply(target as Node):
type as ClassDefinition = target
for member in type.Members:
method = member as Method
block = method.Body
method.Body = [|
block:
try:
$block
ensure:
assert $expr
|].Block
Boo
Boo examples taken from
Ayende Rahien and Oren
Eini‘s InfoQ article Building
Domain Specific Languages
on the CLR

- 37 -
More legal characters: useful for DSLs
• Most languages still basically
use 7-bit ASCII.
• A larger set of legal
characters provides more
degress of freedom for
expressing domain-specific
concepts.
• To be able to enter these
characters Fortress provides a
Wiki-like syntax (like Tex, or
Mathematica)
Fortress

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External DSLs
• Aka Model-Driven Software Development.
• Notation:
• Textual (antlr, Xtext)
• Graphical (GMF, MetaEdit+)
• Or even a mixture (Intentional)
• Execution: Interpretation vs. Code Generation
• Or even a mixture?
• Other advantages:
• Language Specific Tooling (syntax coloring and completion)
• Domain Specific Constraints
• But this is another talk…

Language Workbenches à la Fowler
• Traditionally, the AST (Abstract Syntax Tree) is the result
of a parsing process – ascii text is the master
• In Projectional Editors, the tree is the master, and the
editor, as well as the (potentially) generated code follows
from projections (i.e. model-2-model transformations)

Benefits of Projectional Editing
• Syntax can be ambiguous
• Language Modularization becomes much simpler –
because see above
• Language modules can be composed at the site of use
– no explicit grammar composition necessary.
• A much larger range of symbols can be used
• Textual can graphical notations can be treated similarly
• Simplifies mixing
• Semi-graphical notations (mathematical symbols) can
be used
• NB: Parser technology also evolves, scannerless parsers
can do some of the same things.

Disadvantages of Projectional Editing
• You edit a tree – depending on the tool this can be a pain
(or at least take some getting used to)
• Storage based on abstract syntax (maybe XML), i.e. text-
based tooling won’t work anymore.
• Everything will be tool-dependent… no standards as of
now.

Long Range Vision: Modular Languages
• We won’t have large, general purpose languages
anymore, and use modeling for all the stuff where the
GPLs are lacking.
• Instead we will have modular languages,
• with standardized modules for technical concerns
• Remoting, persistence, state machines, …
• And the ability to build custom modules for our own
domains
• Realistic? Absolutely.

MPS as a Language Workbench
• jetbrains.com/mps
• Open Source, Apache 2.0
• Java as a Base Language – can be extended!
• Tree editing ok (takes getting used to)
• Released as 1.0

MPS: Java with Lock Statement
• translated to „normal“
Java for compilation
• ca. 15 minutes of work to
extend Java with the
LockStatement.

MPS: Concept Definition

MPS: Editor Definition

MPS: Type System Definition

MPS: Generator Definition

MPS: Generator Definition II

MPS: Using the new Construct

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C O N T E N T S
• Typing
• Contracts
• Concurrency
• Platforms
• Tools
• Summary

- 55 -
Invented by Eiffel
• As part of an interface or class, specify (declaratively) the
pre- and postconditions of an operation.
class ACCOUNT
feature -- Access
balance: INTEGER
deposit_count: INTEGER is
do … somehow calculate number of deposits … end
feature
deposit( sum: INTEGER) is
require
non_negative: sum>= 0
do … implementation …
ensure
one_more_deposit:
deposit_count= old deposit_count + 1
updated: balance= old balance + sum
end
feature { NONE} -- Implementation
all_deposits: DEPOSIT_LIST
invariant
consistent_balance: ( all_deposits /= Void) implies
( balance = all_deposits.total)
zero_if_no_deposits: ( all_deposits = Void) implies
( balance= 0)
end -- class ACCOUNT
Eiffel

- 56 -
Spec#, an extension of C#
• It provides pre- and postconditions for methods (in classes
and interfaces!)
• It also provides additional assertions, eg Non-Nullness:
• … and modification-specifications.
class Student : Person {
Transcript! t ;
public Student (string name, EnrollmentInfo! ei)
: t (new Transcript(ei)), base(name) {
}
}
Spec#
class C {
int x , y;
void M() modifies x ; { . . . }
Spec#

- 57 -
Protocols in Axum
• Communication through channels in Axum is
asynchronous.
• It can be hard to track down what‘s happening.
• Solution: Protocol State Machines
• associated with a channel/port
channel Adder {
input int Num1;
input int Num2;
output int Sum;
Start: { Num1 -> GotNum1; }
GotNum1: { Num2 -> GotNum2; }
GotNum2: { Sum -> End; }
}
Axum

- 58 -
C O N T E N T S
• Typing
• Contracts
• Concurrency
• Platforms
• Tools
• Summary

- 59 -
Why?
• Systems need to scale: More and More machines
• Machine performance needs to improve: Multicore
• Multicore system can provide real concurrency as opposed
to „apparent“ concurrency on one core.
• Multicore systems can only be utilized fully if the available
set of cores is utilized effectively.
Diagrams © Joe Armstrong

- 60 -
The role of pure functional programming
• Pure Functional Programming uses
• Only functions without sideeffects
• No shared state
• Immutable data structures
• If you share nothing (or the shared stuff is not mutable)
there‘s no need for locking or other access coordination
protocols  pure functional languages are a good fit
• The call graph is the only dependency structure in the
system (no hidden dependencies using global/shared state)
• makes the programs easier (or even feasible) to analyze
• And makes parallelization simple (you can parallelize any
set of sub-callgraphs)

- 61 -
Shared Memory Concurrency
• Mainstream languages use shared memory:
• A process (address space) can host any numer of thread
• Threads can share data
• They need to coordinate via locking
• Locking has to be implemented manually by developers
via an agreed locking/coordination protocol
• Often very complex (non-local)
• Error prone, because there‘s little language/tool support
• Overspecification: „Acquire/Release Lock X“
vs.
„Pretend this were sequential/atomic“
• Solution: Express atomicity requirements with language
primitives as opposed to using locking protocol API
 Transactional Memory

- 62 -
Shared Memory Concurrency: Transactional Memory
• Transactional Memory in Fortress:
• This formulation says nothing about specific locks and
their allocation and release:
• Less error prone
• More potential for optimizations of compiler and RT system
• Similar in Spirit to Garbage Collection (Dan Grossman):
• Rely on clever compiler and RT system
• Solution might not always be optimal
• … but good enough in 99% of cases
• and much less (error prone) work.
atomic do
// the stuff here is executed as if
// there was only this thread
end
Fortress

- 63 -
STM in Clojure
• Define a ref, an a „piece of transactional memory“
• Accessing a ref has to happen in a transaction, otherwise
an exception is thrown
user => (def foo (ref 0))
#'user/foo
user => @foo // (deref foo) is similar
0
Clojure
user=> (dosync (ref-set foo 1))
1
user => @foo
1
Clojure

- 64 -
More bad overspecification
• Overspecification generally prohibits a compiler or runtime
system from introducing optimizations.
• Example: Assume you want to do something for each
element of a collection
• (Old) Java solution enforces total ordering. Intended?
• Compiler cannot remove ordering
• (New) Java solution: no ordering implied
• Intent is expressed more clearly
for ( int i=0; i < data.length; i++ ) {
// do a computation with data[i]
}
Java < 5
foreach ( DataStructure ds in data ) {
// do something with ds
}
Java 5

- 65 -
The default is parallel
• In Fortress, a loop is by default parallel
• i.e. the compiler can distribute it to several cores
• If you need sequential execution, you have to explicitly
specify that.
• Fortress does more for concurrency:
• it knows about machine resources (processors, memory)
• Allocates to those resources explicitly or automatically
for I <- 1:m, j <- 1:n do
a[i,j] := b[i] c[j]
end
Fortress
for i <- seq(1:m) do
for j <- seq(1:n) do
print a[i,j]
end
end
Fortress

- 66 -
„Shared Memory is BAD“ (Joe Armstrong)
• Some (many?) claim that the root of all evil is shared
memory (more specifically: shared, mutable state):
• If you cannot modify shared state, no need for locking
• Fulfilled by pure functional languages
• If you don‘t even have shared state, it‘s even better.
• This leads to message-passing concurrency
• Aka Actor Modell
• Erlang: most prominent example language (these days)
• Funtional Language
• Conceived of 20 years ago at Ericsson
• Optimized for distributed, fault tolerant (telco-)systems
• Actors/Message Passing based (called Process there )

- 67 -
Shared Memory is

- 68 -
• Some (many?) claim that the root of all evil is shared
memory (more specifically: shared, mutable state):
• If you cannot modify shared state, no need for locking
• Fulfilled by pure functional languages
• If you don‘t even have shared state, it‘s even better.
• This leads to message-passing concurrency
• Aka Actor Modell
• Erlang: most prominent example language (these days)
• Funtional Language
• Conceived of 20 years ago at Ericsson
• Optimized for distributed, fault tolerant (telco-)systems
• Actors/Message Passing based (called Process there )

- 69 -
Actors/Message Passing in Erlang
• The only way to exchange information between actors is
via message passing.
• Spawn creates a new process – it executes the lambda
expression passed as an argument
• Sending a message (any Erlang data structure) happens
via the ! notation
Pid = spawn(fun() -> doSomething() end)
Erlang
Pid ! Message
Erlang

- 70 -
Actors/Message Passing in Erlang II
• An Actor‘s received messages are put into a „mailbox“
• A Unix Select-like command receive takes out one at a
time.
• Pattern Matching is used to distinguish between the
different messages
• lower case: constants
• upper case: free variables that will be bound)
loop
receive
{add, Id, Name, FirstName} -> ActionsToAddInformation;
{remove,Id} -> ActionsToRemoveItAgain;
...
after Time -> TimeOutActions
end
Erlang

- 71 -
Erlang-Style Message Passing in Scala
• Necessary ingredients for Actors include
• Closures
• Efficient Pattern Matching
• Scala has those features, too.
• It also provides a way to define new „keywords“ (receive)
and operators (!)
• This piece of Scala code doesn‘t just look almost like the
Erlang version, it also performs similarly.
receive {
case Add(name, firstName) => …
case Remove(name, firstName) =>…
case _ => loop(value)
}
Erlang

- 72 -
Best of Both Worlds in Singularity
• MP disadvantage: message data copying overhead
• Singularity (Sing#) solution: Best of Both Worlds
• Use message passing semtantics and APIs
• But internally use shared memory (memory exchange)
• Enforce this via static analysis in compiler
• Example (pseudocode)
struct MyMessage {
// fields…
}
MyMessage m = new MyMessage(…)
receiver ! m
// use static analysis here to ensure that
// no write access to m
Singularity

- 73 -
Agents and Channels in Axum
• Axum is a Microsoft
Devlabs project.
No guarantees 
• Core abstractions are
agents (i.e. actors)
and channels
(message flow pipelines)
agent MainAgent:
channel Microsoft.Axum.Application {
function int Fibonacci(int n) {
if( n<=1 ) return n;
return Fibonacci(n-1) + Fibonacci(n-2);
}
int numCount = 10;
void ProcessResult(int n) {
Console.WriteLine(n);
if( --numCount == 0 )
PrimaryChannel::ExitCode <-- 0;
}
public MainAgent() {
var numbers =
new OrderedInteractionPoint<int>();
numbers ==> Fibonacci ==> ProcessResult;
for( int i=0; i<numCount; i++ )
numbers <-- 42-i;
}
}
Axum

- 74 -
Fancy Dataflow Networks
• 1:1 – Forwarding
• Many:1- Multiplexing and Combine
PrimaryChannel::Click ==> HandleClick;
Axum
var ip1 = new OrderedInteractionPoint<int>();
var ip2 = new OrderedInteractionPoint<int>();
ip1 <-- 10;
ip2 <-- 20;
var ips = new OrderedInteractionPoint<int>[]{ ip1, ip2 };
void PrintOneNumber(int n) {
Console.WriteLine(n);
}
ips >>- PrintOneNumber; // multiplexing
void PrintManyNumbers(int[] nums) {
foreach(var i in nums) Console.WriteLine(i);
}
ips &>- PrintManyNumbers; // combine
Axum

- 75 -
Fancy Dataflow Networks II
• 1:Many – Broadcast and Alternate
agent AdderAgent : channel Adder {
public AdderAgent() {
var ipJoin = new OrderedInteractionPoint<int[]>();
{ PrimaryChannel::Num1 ==> ShowNumber,
PrimaryChannel::Num2 ==> ShowNumber }
&>- ipJoin -<: { GetSum, GetSum } >>-
PrimaryChannel::Sum;
}
private int ShowNumber(int n) {
Console.WriteLine("Got number {0}", n);
return n;
}
private function int GetSum(int[] nums) {
return nums[0] + nums[1];
}
}
Axum

- 76 -
C O N T E N T S
• Typing
• Contracts
• Concurrency
• Platforms
• Tools
• Summary

- 77 -
Languages vs. Platforms
• Virtual Machines: Let‘s have a small set of stable, fast,
scalable platforms and a larger variety of languages for
different tasks running on those platforms.
• CLR has always had a clear distinction
• JVM is getting there: JRuby, Jython, Groovy, Scala
•invokedynamic, tail recursion
• The same concept applies to enterprise platforms:
JEE as an „operating system“ for enterprise apps has
• Scalability
• Deploymnet
• Manageability, Operations
• … and use different languages/frameworks on top of
this „Enterprise OS“
• This is an advantage of Groovy/Grails vs. Ruby/Rails

- 78 -
C O N T E N T S
• Typing
• Contracts
• Concurrency
• Platforms
• Tools
• Summary

- 79 -
When defining a language, always think about tooling!
• Tooling includes
• editing (coloring, code completion, refactoring, etc.)
• (static) analysis
• Powerful tooling is simpler to build for statically typed
languages
• However, IDEs for dynamic languages are feasible, too:
• Netbeans Ruby support
• Smalltalk Browsers
• Metaprogramming is simpler to do in dynamic
languages
• there‘s no tooling to be adapted with the language
• How can the IDE know about changes to programs at RT?
• Compile-Time meta programming does not include tooling

- 80 -
When defining a language, always think about tooling! II
• Design language to make tooling simple:
• Do you see the difference?
SELECT a,b,c FROM someTable …
SQL
from someCollection select a,b,c …
Linq

- 81 -
When defining a language, always think about tooling! III
• Internal DSLs – implemented mostly in dynamic languages
– do not provide any tool support for the DSL
• Main disadvantage of dynamic, internal DSLs
• Usability for business user limited!?
• In external DSLs you build a custom editor which then
typically provides the well-known IDE productivity features
(to one extend or another). Examples include
• GMF for graphical notations
• Xtext for textual notations
• Static Analysis becomes a central issue for concurrency
• If concurrency is supported on language level, more
compiler/analysis support becomes available.
• MS Singularity Project is a good example

- 82 -
C O N T E N T S
• Typing
• Contracts
• Concurrency
• Platforms
• Tools
• Summary

- 83 -
Summary
• The time when only one language rules are over.
• Languages are a topic of discussion again
• It‘s about language concepts, not little details!
• New Buzzword: Polyglott Programming (new concept?)
Build a system using several languages,
• A robust, static, compiled languages for the foundation
• The more volatile parts are done with a more productive,
often dynamically typed language
• DSLs are used for end-user configuration/customization
• Languages I could have talked about:
• F# (functional), Ada 2005 (concurrency)

- 84 -
C O N T E N T S
• Typing
• Contracts
• Concurrency
• Platforms
• Tools
• Summary
THE END.
THANKS!

Trends In Languages 2010

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