Institute of Computer Languages
Compilers and Languages Group

Talks 2006 - David Bacon

The Compilers and Languages Group invites you to a talk given by

Dr. David Bacon

(IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, NY, USA) on

The Metronome Project: High-level Real-time Programming in Java

Date:	Friday, October 6, 2006
Time:	10:00 (c.t.)
Location:	TU Wien, Elektrotechnik, Hörsaal EI 5 (Hochenegg-Hörsaal), Gusshausstraße 25-29 (Altbau), 2. Stock

Abstract:

The goal of the Metronome project at IBM Research is to allow the creation of real-time systems using high-level, garbage-collected, object-oriented programming languages. Our Real-time Garbage Collection technology is now available in a production Java virtual machine and in use by industry for the creation of large-scale real-time systems. Real-time collection can be used for tasks up to 1 KHz; we have also developed a verified subset of Java which can be used for tasks up to 50 KHz. In order to debug these complex real-time systems, we have developed a tool called TuningFork which allows online monitoring, visualization, and analysis of Java, JVM, and kernel activity. To validate the real-time ecosystem we are developing and to drive further research, we are developing a number of real-time applications in Java: a MIDI synthesizer, a quad-rotor helicopter (with Universität Salzburg) and cooperating UAVs (with UC Berkeley). I will give an overview of the technologies we have developed, and describe our experiences to date building real-time systems in Java.

About Dr. David Bacon:

David F. Bacon is a Research Staff Member at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center, where he leads the Metronome project which produced the first hard real-time garbage collected system. His algorithms are included in most compilers and run-time systems for modern object-oriented languages, and his work on Thin Locks was selected as one of the most influential contributions in the 20 years of the Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI) conference. His recent work focuses on high-level real-time programming, embedded systems, programming language design, and computer architecture. He received his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley and his A.B. from Columbia University. He holds 6 patents and has served on numerous program committees including POPL, OOPSLA, ECOOP, LCTES, and EMSOFT. He is a member of ACM and IEEE and is on the governing boards of ACM SIGPLAN and SIGBED.