Porting Embedded XINU to Virgil

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Students: Max Berner, Maverick Berner
Mentor: Dr. Dennis Brylow

Project Background

The focus of the project is to create a port of the Operating System Embedded Xinu over to the programming language Virgil. Embedded Xinu is the OS used for many classes at Marquette University, including COSC 3250: Operating Systems. It functions as a unique educational tool to demonstrate essential aspects of computing in a comprehensible manner for students. Embedded Xinu is a reimplementation of Xinu that has been developed under the direction of Dr. Dennis Brylow since 2006.

Virgil is a fast, object-orientated programming language developed by Dr. Ben Titzer. It is an optimized language used in ongoing research such as Wizard, a next-generation WebAssembly virtual machine. The language can be read further here on its Github repository.

Motivation

Virgil is a language designed for systems like Embedded Xinu, potentially providing performance optimizations. Modernizing Xinu by providing new and innovative features helps keep course material relevant. Having coursework designed with Virgil provides a greater learning experience by diversifying students knowledge and opening the opportunity to learn Xinu concurrently with a new programming language. Embedded Xinu could provide a platform for Virgil to demonstrate its capabilities as a language for education and research.

Current Objectives

  • Get Virgil to compile and execute in Embedded Xinu.
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