Tools and Benchmarks for Real-Time Systems

Title: A Synchronous Perspective on Real-Time Programming

Speaker: Reinhard von Hanxleden (Kiel University, Germany)

Abstract: Synchronous programming languages have been developed for the programming of reactive systems. Their hallmark is determinacy even in the presence of concurrency and shared data. This makes synchronous languages particularly suited for safety-critical systems, such as avionics control software. This keynote will cover the fundamentals of the synchronous model of computation and will highlight some current developments and challenges. In particular, it will address how synchronous programming handles real-time systems, how to reconcile abstract logical time with concrete physical time, how it relates to initiatives like AUTOSAR, and how sequential constructiveness conservatively extends the synchronous abstraction towards main-stream imperative programming.

I would like to discuss the following topics at WATERS:

- Would it make sense to include a physical notion of time in synchronous languages for real-time applications (e.g. to represent deadlines)? How could that be realized and what would be the semantics?
- How can synchronous programs be executed truly parallel on multi-core platforms?
- Are modern programming paradigms (e.g. OO) amenable to synchronous languages?

We at Bosch are also concerned with practical issues for realizing large systems with sync. languages: separate compilation of modules with causality analysis, compound data structures, etc.

Anymore questions / opinions concerning sync. languages?

Thanks again to Reinhard von Hanxleden for the great keynote. The slides are now available .