Master Ticket: Synthesis Toolchain Storyboarding

[mwookawa]

Master ticket for drawing out our proposed synthesis toolchain (including evolving components under dev) conceptually

• boxes in workflow with sets of tools that could fit into that box
• notional necessary/sufficient DSLs to be designed
• workflow from from DSLs to C
• both formal statements and informal or graphical

[mwookawa]

there is a fine line here between designing K useful DSLs and designing a distinct synthesizer for each one, and designing a single synthesizer framework (say, in the style of Rosette) that allows one to design K useful synthesis-enabled DSLs.

Note that I say this is a fine line because if we are only designing K use DSLs, it is most expedient and generally clearest (to my mind) to separately define the syntax, static and dynamic semantics of each DSL. However, the distinction between K distinct synthesizers and one synthesizer framework from which we derive K instantiations has a significant effect on how we implement these languages.

My feeling is that this is I/we should just choose an approach (or resign to an ad hoc hybrid) and dive in, and at a later point at which we have achieved functionality, identify which risks paid off and which did not.

[ghost]

My experience so far doing this with bintools is that the various generators don't have a great deal in common. But they're more like compilers than synthesizers.