4 ms·

Implementation of an Operating System in ML - PDF

60 points by fogus 16y ago

kia 16y ago
This is someone's master thesis from 1998 Here is an abstract for those who don't want to download the full PDF In this paper I describe the design, implementation, and features of ML/OS, an operating system with an embedded ML compiler. ML/OS supports a continuation-based thread model of concurrency with non-blocking, interrupt-driven input/output. By embedding the ML compiler into the operating system, ML/OS attempts to eliminate levels of abstraction that are present in traditional interactions between compilers and operating systems. By using a continuation-based scheduler, I demonstrate the use of advanced programming language features such as continuations and type safety in system-level programming.
asb 16y ago
If you find this interesting you may want to read about this more current research: http://www.openmirage.org/ http://www.openmirage.org/ To quote from the vision paper http://anil.recoil.org/papers/2010-bcs-visions.pdf http://anil.recoil.org/papers/2010-bcs-visions.pdf Mirage is written in the spirit of vertical operating systems such as Nemesis [17] or Exokernel [10], but differs in certain aspects: (i) apart from a small runtime, the operating system and support code (e.g., threading) is entirely written in OCaml; and (ii) is statically specialised at compile-time by assembling only required components (e.g., a read-only file system which fits into memory will be directly linked in as an immutable data structure). These features mean that it provides a stronger basis for the practical application of formal methods such as model checking; and the removal of redundant safety system checks greatly improves the energy efficiency of the system.
- rwmj 16y ago
  Interesting background of the authors. From Xen (which itself was derived from the Nemesis exokernel, although not directly). XenSource is a heavy OCaml user. And from Cambridge University where Nemesis was developed.
  - eru 16y ago
    XenSource was bought by Citrix in late 2007. But we are still using OCaml on XenServer. (XenClient started using Haskell.)
- there 16y ago
  a recent video of a talk about mirage: http://sna-projects.com/blog/2010/10/mirage/ http://sna-projects.com/blog/2010/10/mirage/
  - junkbit 16y ago
    Great video. I don't pretend to understand functional languages but the ideas about memory layout and DSLs for r/w of Ethernet frames seemed really elegant.
br1 16y ago
More system software in ML: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/Projects/HORUS/ http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/Projects/HORUS/
- jaen 16y ago
  "By early in 1997, Ensemble will be an outstanding environment for building Java-based groupware applications that do multimedia conferencing on the Web." Oh boy, sure brings back memories...
Rusky 16y ago
Reminds me of SPIN (http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.47.8338 http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.47.8...) and Singularity (http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=69431 http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=6943...) - putting a compiler in the kernel lets you control what runs on the system without using hardware protection barriers, as well as enables better optimization against the running system.
linker3000 16y ago
I know Adobe are forever adding more bloat to Acrobat Reader, but an OS in a PDF? That's just too far!
- pjscott 16y ago
  PostScript was Turing complete. Imagine having a fractal-drawing program in a PDF, and you're not far off from what it can do: http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~andersr/fractal/PostScript.html http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~andersr/fractal/PostScript.html

60 points by fogus 16y ago

kia 16y ago

This is someone's master thesis from 1998 Here is an abstract for those who don't want to download the full PDF In this paper I describe the design, implementation, and features of ML/OS, an operating system with an embedded ML compiler. ML/OS supports a continuation-based thread model of concurrency with non-blocking, interrupt-driven input/output. By embedding the ML compiler into the operating system, ML/OS attempts to eliminate levels of abstraction that are present in traditional interactions between compilers and operating systems. By using a continuation-based scheduler, I demonstrate the use of advanced programming language features such as continuations and type safety in system-level programming.

asb 16y ago

If you find this interesting you may want to read about this more current research: http://www.openmirage.org/ http://www.openmirage.org/ To quote from the vision paper http://anil.recoil.org/papers/2010-bcs-visions.pdf http://anil.recoil.org/papers/2010-bcs-visions.pdf Mirage is written in the spirit of vertical operating systems such as Nemesis [17] or Exokernel [10], but differs in certain aspects: (i) apart from a small runtime, the operating system and support code (e.g., threading) is entirely written in OCaml; and (ii) is statically specialised at compile-time by assembling only required components (e.g., a read-only file system which fits into memory will be directly linked in as an immutable data structure). These features mean that it provides a stronger basis for the practical application of formal methods such as model checking; and the removal of redundant safety system checks greatly improves the energy efficiency of the system.

rwmj 16y ago
Interesting background of the authors. From Xen (which itself was derived from the Nemesis exokernel, although not directly). XenSource is a heavy OCaml user. And from Cambridge University where Nemesis was developed.
- eru 16y ago
  XenSource was bought by Citrix in late 2007. But we are still using OCaml on XenServer. (XenClient started using Haskell.)
there 16y ago
a recent video of a talk about mirage: http://sna-projects.com/blog/2010/10/mirage/ http://sna-projects.com/blog/2010/10/mirage/
- junkbit 16y ago
  Great video. I don't pretend to understand functional languages but the ideas about memory layout and DSLs for r/w of Ethernet frames seemed really elegant.

br1 16y ago

More system software in ML: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/Projects/HORUS/ http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/Projects/HORUS/

jaen 16y ago
"By early in 1997, Ensemble will be an outstanding environment for building Java-based groupware applications that do multimedia conferencing on the Web." Oh boy, sure brings back memories...

Rusky 16y ago

Reminds me of SPIN (http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.47.8338 http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.47.8...) and Singularity (http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=69431 http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=6943...) - putting a compiler in the kernel lets you control what runs on the system without using hardware protection barriers, as well as enables better optimization against the running system.

linker3000 16y ago

I know Adobe are forever adding more bloat to Acrobat Reader, but an OS in a PDF? That's just too far!

pjscott 16y ago
PostScript was Turing complete. Imagine having a fractal-drawing program in a PDF, and you're not far off from what it can do: http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~andersr/fractal/PostScript.html http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~andersr/fractal/PostScript.html