<p>In my experience, I've seen the following new compiler developments:</p>

<ul>
<li>Work on automating data parallelism (or at least, reducing the amount of explicit work done by the programmer). This typically requires extensions to the language as well.</li>
<li>Work on extreme optimization strategies such as supercompilation or partial evaluation (where a program is collapsed via evaluation until it is reduced to its "smallest" form and then compiled)</li>
</ul>

<p>I've seen a variety of work on things such as type checkers and so on, but I assume you're talking more about compiler-specific stuff.</p>

CC BY-SA 2.5
2011-03-05T13:42:10.097Z
2011-03-05T13:42:10.097Z
Liam O'Connor
<p>From when I left (but are probably still relevant):</p>

<ul>
<li>Distributed processing:
<ul>
<li>Compiling the application to run on a distributed cluster of processors.<br>
This requires taking into consideration memory mapping (distribution of problem data) of data to processors and adding explicit code to request memory pages for reading/writing before they are actually needed to prevent processors stalls.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Parallel processing:
<ul>
<li>Compiler generated threaded code.<br>
Removing the need for developers to explicitly generate threaded code (because they are generally very bad at it).</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 2.5
2011-02-28T20:44:34.967Z
2011-02-28T20:44:34.967Z
Loki Astari
<p>Compiler theory seems to be a pretty vetted subject. What are some open problems or current research happening in the field?</p>

CC BY-SA 2.5
2011-01-28T09:33:59.467Z
I am in the mood for rambling comments today. Are you familiar with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_employment_theorem ?
Raphael
<soft-question><big-list><open-problem><compilers>
What are current open problems in compiler theory?
goric
# What are current open problems in compiler theory?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-01-27)

Compiler theory seems to be a pretty vetted subject. What are some open problems or current research happening in the field?

**Tags:** soft-question, big-list, open-problem, compilers

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I am in the mood for rambling comments today. Are you familiar with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_employment_theorem ?  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2011-03-05. Score: 8

In my experience, I've seen the following new compiler developments:

* Work on automating data parallelism (or at least, reducing the amount of explicit work done by the programmer). This typically requires extensions to the language as well.
* Work on extreme optimization strategies such as supercompilation or partial evaluation (where a program is collapsed via evaluation until it is reduced to its "smallest" form and then compiled)

I've seen a variety of work on things such as type checkers and so on, but I assume you're talking more about compiler-specific stuff.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2011-02-28. Score: 7

From when I left (but are probably still relevant):

* Distributed processing:
  + Compiling the application to run on a distributed cluster of processors.  
    This requires taking into consideration memory mapping (distribution of problem data) of data to processors and adding explicit code to request memory pages for reading/writing before they are actually needed to prevent processors stalls.
* Parallel processing:
  + Compiler generated threaded code.  
    Removing the need for developers to explicitly generate threaded code (because they are generally very bad at it).


---

