Job Description

6 Month Contract Position for C++/ML programmer at Microsoft Research, Cambridge

Primary aim: Delivering Generics in the “Rotor” .NET Common Language Runtime

Microsoft Research, Cambridge have a vacancy for a 6 month contract position to assist with out ongoing research project to implement support for parametric polymorphism (templates/generics) in Microsoft's new programming language C# and the .NET Common Language Runtime.  Andrew Kennedy and Don Syme have published a paper on this at PLDI 2001 describing the basic design. 

Microsoft has release a shared source version of the .NET CLR, called "Rotor" or the "Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure" (SSCLI), initially available for FreeBSD and Microsoft Windows.  We are interested in seeing a public release of our generics work implemented within the Rotor code base.  As such, we are looking to hire a skilled programmer to work with us on a contract basis for 6 months or so.  The first 3 months would be spent preparing a release of generics for Rotor, and the remaining time would be spent working in collaboration with the Rotor team and users to ensure stability.  If time permits we would also investigate performance and design improvements.  We may also ask the person to work on some of our related projects, in particular two .NET compilers for ML languages, one of which features excellent .NET language interoperability, and the other of which targets the our generics design and can be used for performance testing.

The job will require the candidate to show real enthusiasm for the end product (the world's first shared source implementation of parametric polymorphism in an object-based runtime) and good C/C++ coding skills.  Experience with native code compiler implementation, Rotor, ML and/or virtual machine implementation would be highly regarded. Most importantly it will also be necessary to have the patience required to deal with real-world software development, and of course all the attention to detail that is needed to produce a software release!

For more information contact Dr Don Syme (dsyme@microsoft.com), or submit your CV to t-frajos@microsoft.com .  See also http://research.microsoft.com for general information about Microsoft Research.