[splines_tines]

Thanks, that makes sense re PLT. One thing I have heard is that PLT can be viewed as a "programming languages" approach to math foundations, or at least the foundations of computation, and largely doesn't have to do with programming language implementation, but not everyone seems to share that view. And I recently saw a comment from someone who said they worked on compilers list abstract interpretation as something for budding (industrial) compiler workers to learn[1].

I have a math background so of course I'm drawn to this stuff, but I have trouble imagining it being immediately useful for implementers. Could it be that this stuff is more useful for language design than implementation?

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20915485

[dtoffe]

I don't know what "abstract interpretation" is, can't help you with that. If you are interested in the real life implementation of theoretical PLT concepts, I'm not sure if this might help, but there is this page: https://www.ponylang.io/blog/2017/05/an-early-history-of-pon... where the designer of the Pony Language tells the history of how he did a Ph.D. on sound stuff and then went to design Pony. You can probably start hunting papers from this trail. Personally, I'm nostalgic of the Wirthian languages, and started developing a PL/0 compiler with an LLVM backend, before some day, if hopefully I ever develop all the needed skills, put all the Wirthian languages in a cocktail shaker, add a dash of new PL concepts, and see how that tastes.