POPL 2026
Sun 11 - Sat 17 January 2026 Rennes, France
Mon 12 Jan 2026 16:45 - 17:07 at Belvédère - Compilers Chair(s): Matthieu Sozeau

Dafny is a verification-aware programming language that comes with a compiler and static program verifier. However, neither the compiler nor the verifier are proved correct; in fact, soundness bugs have been found in both. This paper shows that the aforementioned Dafny tools can be developed with foundational correctness guarantees. We present a functional big-step semantics for an imperative subset of Dafny and, based on this semantics, a verified verification condition generator (VCG) and a verified compiler for Dafny. The subset of Dafny we have formalized includes mutually recursive method calls, while loops, and arrays—these language features are significant enough to cover challenging examples such as McCarthy’s 91 function, and array-based programs that are used when teaching Dafny. The verified VCG allows one to prove functional correctness of annotated Dafny programs, while the verified compiler can be used to compile verified Dafny programs to CakeML programs. From there, one can obtain executable machine code via the (already verified) CakeML compiler, all while provably maintaining the functional correctness guarantees that were proved for the source-level Dafny programs. Our work has been mechanized in the HOL4 theorem prover.

Mon 12 Jan

Displayed time zone: Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris change

16:00 - 17:30
CompilersCPP at Belvédère
Chair(s): Matthieu Sozeau Inria
16:00
22m
Talk
Mechanized Dominator Tree Certificationdistinguished paper
CPP
Jean-Christophe Léchenet Université Côte d’Azur, Inria
DOI Pre-print
16:22
22m
Talk
Brack: A Verified Compiler for Scheme via CakeML
CPP
Pascal Lasnier University of Cambridge, Jeremy Yallop University of Cambridge, Magnus O. Myreen Chalmers University of Technology
16:45
22m
Talk
Verified VCG and Verified Compiler for Dafny
CPP
Daniel Nezamabadi NTU Singapore, Magnus O. Myreen Chalmers University of Technology, Yong Kiam Tan Institute for Infocomm Research, A*STAR
17:07
22m
Talk
Foundational Verification of Running-Time Bounds for Interactive Programs
CPP
Thomas Carotti MIT, Andy Tockman Massachussetts Institute of Technology, Pratap Singh CMU, Andres Erbsen Google, Samuel Gruetter ETH Zurich, Adam Chlipala Massachusetts Institute of Technology