Tobin-Hochstadt research focuses on the design and implementation of programming systems. He is particularly interested in programming languages that support the evolution of software. He developed the Typed Racket system, which allows programmers to migrate their software incrementally from untyped scripting languages to more robust languages which feature static types. This system has also led to further research in extensible languages, software contracts, and optimizing compilers. As a part of the DARPA CRASH project, Tobin-Hochstadt is now extending these systems to support new designs for secure systems for building networked and distributed software.
He is also leveraging software contracts to modularly and effectively verify individual software components in a new project supported by the National Science Foundation.
Additionally, Tobin-Hochstadt participates in the design of JavaScript, the programming language of the web. He is collaborating on the next revision of the JavaScript standard in conjunction with Mozilla Research, ECMA, and developers at numerous other companies.
In particular, he is one of the designers of the module system soon to be available in web browsers across the Internet.
Tobin-Hochstadt received his BS in Computer Science from the University of Chicago, and a PhD in Computer Science from Northeastern University in 2010.
