Symbolic Assembly: Using Clojure to Meta-program Bytecode

Ramsey Nasser

Generating high-performance low-level code in a compiler has historically been a pain due to weak tools. If the target assembly language can be represented as functional data, however, Clojure can be used as a functional, REPL-driven meta-programming layer, and compiler development begins to resemble standard Clojure programming. The Morgan And Grand Iron Clojure (MAGIC) Compiler library uses this approach to great effect when compiling Clojure on the Common Language Runtime to support video game development in the Arcadia project. In this session, we’ll take a look at this functional approach to compilers in general, and the design and success of MAGIC in particular.

Ramsey Nasser is a computer scientist, game designer, and educator based in Brooklyn. He researches programming languages by building tools to make computation more expressive and implementing projects that question the basic assumptions we make about code itself. His games playfully push people out of their comfort zones, and are often built using experimental tools of his design. Ramsey is a former Eyebeam fellow and a professor at schools around New York. When he is not reasoning about abstract unintuitive machines, he goes on long motorcycle trips.