The Modern Platform in 2020

We are reshaping the platforms we build around language technology. This talk introduces this new track on compilation targets with an overview of how we got to this point where programming language technology is finding its way into every technology stack. First we have performance and efficiency trends, where we need to drive new heterogeneous hardware platforms such as vector registers and GPUs. Much of the work that we see in areas such as ML would not be possible without these changes. Then we have a huge range of exciting applications that are using tiny microcontrollers, perhaps scavenging power from the environment. But we need higher level programming languages for these, as we cannot scaleout C and assembly programming that have dominated this area. In addition we have a new set of platforms that are being enabled by Web Assembly, built around new safer ways of running isolated code, and promising cross language integration in a way that we have not seen before. Finally security and code safety issues are everywhere now. The stacks that we built our infrastructure on are vulnerable to memory safety and other bugs that are becoming easier to find with the rise of fuzzing and other analysis technologies. Languages again provide tools for type and concurrency safety that can fix these issues.