[Colloq] Reminder: Talk: Scalloc and Selfie: Fast Memory Allocation and Self-referential Systems Software - Christoph Kirsch - Monday, November 2. 11am-12pm, 366 WVH

[Walker, Lashauna]

Title: Scalloc and Selfie: Fast Memory Allocation and Self-referential Systems Software
Speaker: Christoph Kirsch
Date: Monday, November 2nd
Time: 11:00-12:00pm

Location: 366 WVH

Abstract:

This talk is about scalloc, a fast, multicore-scalable, low-fragmentation memory allocator and selfie, a 4000-line implementation of a tiny self-compiling C compiler and a tiny

self-executing MIPS emulator for teaching systems engineering.  Scalloc is a typical example of a very complex, multi-year research effort while selfie is, at least for now, a purely educational,

many-year effort in teaching compiler, operating system, and virtual machine design based on a single, highly principled software platform. So far scalloc and selfie only share the passion

of their authors and are otherwise two distinct projects. Yet earlier versions of selfie, before they were even identified as such, were instrumental in bringing up the generation of students

who did scalloc. The main ideas behind scalloc are: uniform treatment of small and big objects through so-called virtual spans, efficiently and effectively reclaiming free memory

through fast and scalable global data structures, and constant-time (modulo synchronization) allocation and deallocation operations that trade off memory reuse and spatial locality without being

subject to false sharing. The main ideas behind selfie are: a compiler written in and for a tiny subset of C called C* which uses the dereferencing * operator of C for memory access

but lacks data structures and many other features and a MIPS emulator written in C* that can execute itself. Both are combined and extended by students to do very cool stuff.


Thank You.

LaShauna Walker
Executive Assistant to Dean Carla Brodley
College of Computer and Information Science
Northeastern University
617-373-5204
Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/ccisatnu?ref=hl> | Instagram<https://instagram.com/ccisatnu/> | LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Northeastern-University-College-Computer-Information-1943637?gid=1943637&mostPopular=&trk=tyah&trkInfo=idx%3A1-1-1%2CtarId%3A1426606862845%2Ctas%3ANortheastern+University+College+of+Com> | Twitter<https://twitter.com/CCISatNU>