Verified Density Compilation for a Probabilistic Programming Language
This paper presents ProbCompCert, a compiler for a subset of the Stan probabilistic programming language (PPL), in which several key compiler passes have been formally verified using the Coq proof assistant. Because of the probabilistic nature of PPLs, bugs in their compilers can be difficult to detect and fix, making verification an interesting possibility. However, proving correctness of PPL compilation requires new techniques because certain transformations performed by compilers for PPLs are quite different from other kinds of languages. This paper describes techniques for verifying such transformations and their application in ProbCompCert. In the course of verifying ProbCompCert, we found an error in the Stan language reference manual related to the semantics and implementation of a key language construct.
Tue 20 JunDisplayed time zone: Eastern Time (US & Canada) change
13:40 - 15:40 | PLDI: Probabilistic AnalysesPLDI Research Papers at Royal Chair(s): Gagandeep Singh University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | ||
13:40 20mTalk | Lilac: A Modal Separation Logic for Conditional Probability PLDI Research Papers John Li Northeastern University, Amal Ahmed Northeastern University, USA, Steven Holtzen Northeastern University DOI Pre-print | ||
14:00 20mTalk | Formally Verified Samplers from Probabilistic Programs with Loops and Conditioning PLDI Research Papers Alexander Bagnall Ohio University, Gordon Stewart Bedrock Systems, Anindya Banerjee IMDEA Software Institute DOI | ||
14:20 20mTalk | Verified Density Compilation for a Probabilistic Programming Language PLDI Research Papers DOI | ||
14:40 20mTalk | Probabilistic Programming with Stochastic Probabilities PLDI Research Papers Alexander K. Lew Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Matin Ghavami Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Martin Rinard MIT, Vikash K. Mansinghka Massachusetts Institute of Technology DOI | ||
15:00 20mTalk | Automated Expected Value Analysis of Recursive Programs PLDI Research Papers DOI | ||
15:20 20mTalk | Synthesizing Quantum-Circuit Optimizers PLDI Research Papers Amanda Xu University of Wisconsin-Madison, Abtin Molavi University of Wisconsin-Madison, Lauren Pick University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of California, Berkeley, Swamit Tannu University of Wisconsin-Madison, Aws Albarghouthi University of Wisconsin-Madison DOI Pre-print |