Semantics of (Resilient) X10

Abstract: We present a formal small-step structural operational semantics for a large fragment of X10, unifying past work. The fragment covers multiple places, mutable objects on the heap, sequencing, \code{try/catch}, \code{async}, \code{finish}, and \code{at} constructs. This model accurately captures the behavior of a large class of concurrent, multi-place X10 programs. Further, we introduce a formal model of resilience in X10. During execution of an X10 program, a place may fail for many reasons. Resilient X10 permits the program to continue executing, losing the data at the failed place, and most of the control state, and repairing the global control state in such a way that key semantic principles hold, the Invariant Happens Before Principle, and the Failure Masking Principle. These principles permit an X10 programmer to write clean code that continues to work in the presence of place failure. The given semantics have additionally been mechanized in Coq.