Research objectives

• Models : developed in two directions: frontend models (for system designer) and backend models (for formal analysis and execution):
  • Frontend models : under development and study for some years, our frontend models is based on the notion of spatio temporal tiles, where every complex behavior is defined from combining simpler behaviors via a unique composition operator (the tile composition) that allows and handles partial overlaps of behaviors both in time and in space,
  • Backend models (for system semantics) : based on preliminary experiments and proposals, our backends models are currently based on (timed) domains for denotational semantics and (updatable) timed and reactive monad state machines; the relationship between both models are to be understood in the depth, as well as the translation of the frontend model into the back end model,
  
  
• Programing language : we are currently developing a fast evolving experimental domain specific language (DSL), presently embedded in Haskell, based on various extensions of the IO monad ; programming features derive from the algebraic and categorical properties of our models; because programs are redondant (a given model can be described by several programs), categorical properties of interest can also be weak properties (existence is guaranteed but not unicity); in our approach, programs are compiled into models, thus avoiding the schizophrenic approaches that amount to prove correctness of models that are developed independently of the programs implementing these models,
  
  
• Static analysis tools (for designer support) : aside gathering the available modern tools (e.g. type systems), we also address two main issues that are faced by designers when developing interactive systems:
  • Causality : output values to be produced at a given time may only depends input values already received,
  • Memory usage : input values that are no longer needed must be discarded;
  adequate methods allowing the designer to identify potential causality violation and memory leaks in front end and back ends models are currently under design,
  
  
• Usage and case study : as we also want to develop a concrete expertise in interactive system design, various experiments are conducted especially (and currently) in the field of interactive music system design and implementation; in that field, one especially interesting problem is to understand, collect and implement a series of interactive stereotypical scenarios, that may relevantly be used "on stage" with real musicians; collaboration with people from IRCAM (Paris), SCRIME (Bordeaux) and GRAME (Lyon) are especially welcome in these perspectives

Realizations, mostly on GitHub:

• Arts and science projects:
  • Interpolations (2015-2017)
• Softwares and libraries:
  • The Timed Monad Stream library : an efficient reactive/timed programming language API embedded in Haskell or, to a lesser extent, also in OCaml, based on various monad extensions,
  • More on Timed Monad : an experimental encoding of Timed Monad Stream in Agda, with various proofs (shall be extended towards monad with duration types)
  • The Octopus language : a smeigroup based programing language for fast 3D Animation embedded in Haskell (shall be moved into the monad based approach)
  • The T-calculus language : a reactive/realtime programming language prototype embedded in Haskell (alpha release in 2016 -- currently droped in favor of the monad based approach)