1,066 papers · page 45 of 54
In this paper, we demonstrate a natural mapping from element types of XML to module expressions of ML-like programming languages. The mapping is inductive, and the definitions of common XML operations can be derived as the module expressions are constructed. We show how to derive…
The CIL compiler for core Standard ML compiles whole ML programs using a novel typed intermediate language that supports the generation of type-safe customized data representations. In this paper, we present empirical data comparing the relative efficacy of several different flow…
While dynamic linking has become an integral part of the run-time execution of modem programming languages, there is increasing recognition of the need for support for hot swapping of running modules, particularly in long-lived server applications. The interesting challenge for s…
We present improvements to the backtracking technique of pattern-matching compilation. Several optimizations are introduced, such as commutation of patterns, use of exhaustiveness information, and control flow optimization through the use of labeled static exceptions and context …
Contification is a compiler optimization that turns a function that always returns to the same place into a continuation. Compilers for functional languages use contification to expose the control-flow information that is required by many optimizations, including traditional loop…
With few exceptions, macros have traditionally been viewed as operations on syntax trees or even on plain strings. This view makes macros seem ad hoc, and is at odds with two desirable features of contemporary typed functional languages: static typing and static scoping. At a dee…
A cost recurrence describes an upper bound for the running time of a program in terms of the size of its input. Finding cost recurrences is a frequent intermediate step in complexity analysis, and this step requires an abstraction from data to data size. In this article, we use i…
Innocent-looking program transformations can easily change the space complexity of lazy functional programs. The theory of space improvement seeks to characterize those local program transformations which are guaranteed never to worsen asymptotic space complexity of any program. …
This paper presents a new implementation technique for priority search queues. This abstract data type is an amazing blend of finite maps and priority queues. Our implementation supports logarithmic access to a binding with a given key and constant access to a binding with the mi…
Algorithms in Computational Geometry and Computer Aided Design are often developed for the Real RAM model of computation, which assumes exactness of all the input arguments and operations. In practice, however, the exactness imposes tremendous limitations on the algorithms --- ev…
It is possible to translate code written in Emacs Lisp or another Lisp dialect which uses dynamic scoping to a more modern programming language with lexical scoping while largely preserving structure and readability of the code. The biggest obstacle to such an idiomatic translati…
The categorical notion of monad, used by Moggi to structure denotational descriptions, has proved to be a powerful tool for structuring combinator libraries. Moreover, the monadic programming style provides a convenient syntax for many kinds of computation, so that each library d…
Tell category theorists about the concept of abstract syntax for a language and they may say "that's just the initial algebra for a sum-of-products functor on the category of sets". Despite what you might think, they are trying to be helpful since the initiality property is the c…
We describe a new and simpler implementation in Haskell of CML's events, which encode reactions by a thread to combinations of messages from other threads. We add a new type of Guarded Events, by which recipients can filter messages with conditions on their value known as Guards.…
Standard ML is a statically typed programming language that is suited for the construction of both small and large programs. "Programming in the small" is captured by Standard ML's Core language. "Programming in the large" is captured by Standard ML's Modules language that provid…
As a functional pearl, we describe an efficient, modularized implementation of unification using the state of mutable reference cells to encode substitutions. We abstract our algorithms along two dimensions, first abstracting away from the structure of the terms to be unified, an…
Lula is a system for computer-assisted stage lighting design and control. Whereas other systems for the same purpose are usually the results of long chains of incremental improvements of historic concepts, Lula represents a complete redesign. Whereas other systems focus on contro…
We explore how two different mechanisms for reasoning about state, linear typing and the type, region and effect discipline, complement one another in the design of a strongly typed functional programming language. The basis for our language is a simple lambda calculus containing…
Functional reactive programming (FRP) is a declarative programming paradigm where the basic notions are continuous, time-varying behaviors and discrete, event-based reactivity. FRP has been used successfully in many reactive programming domains such as animation, robotics, and gr…
We present a dependently typed assembly language (DTAL) in which the type system supports the use of a restricted form of dependent types, reaping some benefits of dependent types at the assembly level. DTAL improves upon TAL , enabling certain important compiler optimizations su…