CRI: CI-SUSTAIN: Racket on Alternative Platforms

二十年来，Racket编程语言一直是语言设计和实现研究的试验台，也是从中学到研究生的计算机科学教学课程的平台。由于它的灵活性，研究人员用它来探索新的语言思想，从网络服务器和网络浏览器之间的新通信方式到全新语言的构建。教育工作者用一种对初学者友好的语言方言向中学生介绍代数，教授向博士生介绍语言意义的研究。球拍也用于工业的一系列产品。现在程序员们要求更快的球拍，以及能在手机、平板电脑和网页浏览器等现代平台上运行的球拍。为了满足这些要求，该项目将进行四个不同但相关的工作。首先，将基于最近开发的PyPy框架开发一个优化的即时编译器。其次，Racket的创新将被移植到Cisco的高性能Chez Scheme实现中，该方案现在可以在GitHub上作为开源项目获得。这一努力同时构建了另一个高性能编译器，并将Racket社区在过去十年中开发的一些创新成果返回给Scheme社区。简而言之，前两个项目直接解决了来自Racket社区的性能请求。第三，该项目将为web浏览器设计一个球拍的变体，这是一个与普通计算机完全不同的平台。计划是构建一个从球拍到JavaScript的编译器。第四，Racket需要一个面向移动平台（手机、平板电脑）的GUI框架，以便在这些设备上成为一种功能齐全的语言。这四项努力都对研究和教育产生直接影响。现代软件必须在平台和硬件（服务器、笔记本电脑、桌子、电话、浏览器）的异质集合上运行并进行通信。为了解决工程上可靠、安全、可靠的软件问题，研究人员需要能够探索这些问题的编程语言。从诸如Racket之类的语言中，这些想法往往会迅速流入工业应用程序，从而改善每个人的生活。现代教育必须赋予孩子们在软件世界中的能力；否则，他们没有受过广泛的教育。20年来，Racket在数百所大学、学院和K-12学校发挥了重要作用。在其他平台上提供它将确保教师未来的需求。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

For two decades, the Racket programming language has served as a test bed for research on language design and implementation as well as a platform for teaching courses on computer science from middle school through graduate school. Researchers use it to explore new language ideas because of its flexibility, ranging from new ways of communicating between web servers and web browsers to the construction of entirely new languages. Educators introduce middle school students to algebra in a novice-friendly dialect of the language and professors introduce PhD students to the study of the meaning of languages. Racket is also used in industry for a range of products. Now programmers request a faster Racket and a Racket that runs on modern platforms such as phones, tablets, and web browsers. To accommodate these requests, the project will work on four different, but related efforts. First, an optimizing just-in-time compiler will be developed, based on the recently developed PyPy framework. Second, Racket's innovations will be ported to Cisco's high-performance Chez Scheme implementation, which is now available as an open-source project on GitHub. This effort simultaneously constructs another performant compiler and returns to the Scheme community some of the innovations that the Racket community has developed over the last decade. In short, the first two projects directly address the performance requests from the Racket community. Third, the project will design a variant of Racket for web browsers, a radically different platform from ordinary computers. The plan is to construct a compiler from Racket to JavaScript. Fourth, Racket needs a GUI framework for mobile platforms (phones, tablets) to become a fully functional language on those devices. All four efforts have a direct impact on research and education. Modern software must run on, and communicate across, heterogenous collections of platforms and hardware (servers, laptops, tables, phones, browsers). To solve the problem of engineering reliable, safe, and secure software, researchers need programming languages in which they can explore the problems. From languages such as Racket, these ideas tend to quickly flow into industrial applications and thus improve the lives of everyone. Modern education must empower children in the world of software; otherwise they are not broadly educated. For 20 years, Racket has played an important role at hundreds of universities, colleges, and K-12 schools. Providing it on alternative platforms will ensure the future needs of instructors.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.