Compiling Exceptions Correctly

Hutton, Graham; Wright, Joel

Abstract

Exceptions are an important feature of modern programming languages, but their compilation has traditionally been viewed as an advanced topic. In this article we show that the basic method of compiling exceptions using stack unwinding can be explained and verified both simply and precisely, using elementary functional programming techniques. In particular, we develop a compiler for a small language with exceptions, together with a proof of its correctness.

Citation

Hutton, G., & Wright, J. Compiling Exceptions Correctly. Presented at Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Mathematics of Program Construction

• Conference Name: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Mathematics of Program Construction
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2004
• Deposit Date: Oct 26, 2005
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 9, 2007
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1021564