Programming Languages, Formal Methods, and Software Engineering
The growing complexity and scale of software poses formidable challenges for reliability, security, performance, and productivity. Our faculty tackle these problems by developing innovative techniques in programming language design and semantics; techniques and tools for formal verification, software testing, and automated debugging; and models and verification techniques for embedded systems that interact with physical entities.
We are known for theoretical advances such as the Actor model of concurrency; rewriting logic and related semantic frameworks; concolic testing for automated test generation; automated logic reasoning; automated inference of specifications and invariants; and control-theoretic techniques for analyzing cyberphysical systems. We have also produced widely-used tools and techniques like the Maude rewriting engine; the LLVM compiler infrastructure; HPVM and ApproxHPVM systems for compiling and approximating programs running on heterogeneous systems; K Framework; Probfuzz, PSense, and AxProf systems for testing probabilistic and randomized computations; the first complete formalizations of C, Java, and Javascript; and regression testing techniques.
CS Faculty, Affiliate Faculty, and Their Research Interests
| Vikram Adve | Programming Languages, Compilers, Parallel Programming, Domain-Specific Languages, Automated Debugging, Formal Verification, Software Repositories |
| Gul Agha | Models for Concurrent Computation; Parallel and Distributed Algorithms |
| Mattox Beckman | Parsers and Parser Generators, Clone Detection, Functional Programming and Type Classes, Matching Logic, Category Theory |
| Elsa Gunter | Formal Methods, Programming Languages, Software Engineering, Semantics, Interactive Theorem Proving, Model Checking, Type Systems, Program Verification, Compiler Correctness |
| Darko Marinov | Software Engineering, Software Testing |
| Jose Meseguer | Formal Executable Specification and Verification, Software Architecture |
| Andrew Miller, Electrical & Computer Engineering | Design of Secure Decentralized Systems and Cryptocurrencies |
| Sasa Misailovic | Program Optimization Systems, Probabilistic Programming, Approximate Computing Techniques |
| Sayan Mitra, Electrical & Computer Engineering |
Cyber-physical Systems, Formal Verification, Synthesis, Safe Autonomy |
| David Padua | Program Analysis, Transformation, and Optimization |
| Madhusudan Parthasarathy | Formal Methods, Software Verification, Model Checking, Decidable Logics |
| Lawrence Rauchwerger | Languages for Parallel Computing, Run-Time Systems for Parallel Computing, Compilers for Domain Specific Parallel Languages |
| Grigore Rosu | Software, Design, Semantics and Implementation of Programming Specification Languages |
| Mahesh Viswanathan | Model Checking, Logic, Cyberphysical Systems, Software, Security |
| Tao Xie | Software Engineering, Software Testing, Program Analysis, Software Analytics |
| Tianyin Xu | Operating Systems, Cloud and Datacenter Systems, System Reliability and Resilience, Large-Scale System Management, Configuration Management, and Reliability Engineering |
Adjunct Faculty
| Danny Dig, EECS Department, Oregon State University | Software Engineering, General and Interactive Program Transformations |
Programming Languages, Formal Methods, and Software Engineering Research Efforts and Groups
- PL/FM/SE at Illinois
- Coordinated Science Lab (CSL)
- Science of Security (SOS) Lablet in the Information Trust Institute
- The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure
Seminars
- Brett Daniel Software Engineering Seminar (cs591se), named in memory of Brett Daniel. Subscribe to FM seminar mailing list.
- Illinois Computer Science Speaker Series
Programming Languages, Formal Methods, and Software Engineering Research News
Jacobson, Nahrstedt, and Xie Among Eight 2019 AAAS Fellows From Illinois
December 2, 2019 Profs. Sheldon Jacobson, Klara Nahrstedt, and Tao Xie are among 443 people to be awarded the distinction of AAAS Fellow this year.
Meet the Siebel Scholars Class of 2020
October 2, 2019 Five accomplished Illinois Computer Science master’s students have been recognized for their academic achievements and leadership.
Adve Presents Heterogeneous Systems Research at DARPA ERI Summit
September 18, 2019 Prof. Sarita Adve was invited to share work done by the EPOCHS project, which is part of the $1.5 billion Electronics Resurgence Initiative.
Misailovic Wins NSF CAREER Award to Develop Tools to Improve Applications That Rely on Noisy Data
May 13, 2019 Misailovic plans to investigate whether the foundation for handling noisy data can be built on static program analysis, and to develop related coursework.
The Brave Browser Launches Ads that Reward Users for Viewing
April 24, 2019TechCrunch -- With the latest desktop version of the Brave browser, users can now opt-in to the Brave Ads program. Brave is an ad-blocking web browser startup led by Brendan Eich (MS CS '86), creator of the JavaScript programming language and former Mozilla CEO. He’s long maintained that the vision is “bigger than an ad blocker.”