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ABSTRACT

Contemporary software systems often provide mechanisms forextending functionalities, which imposes great safety concerns on the well-being of critical infrastructures. ATS is a recently developed language with its type system rooted in Applied Type System framework which combines linear and dependent type theories for enforcing safe use of resources at low-level. In this paper, we describe a framework for constructing reliable Linux device drivers in ATS. Specifically, drivers are written and type checked in ATS, then compiled and linked to kernel with safety guarantee. Our preliminary experience shows that this approach can effectively enhance the reliability of device drivers and save the testing/debugging time.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.1 PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES
      D.1.1 Applicative (Functional) Programming

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS
      D.4.5 Reliability

General Terms:
Languages

Keywords:
ATS, applied type system, device driver programming