We present a game semantics for Linear Logic, in which formulas denote games and proofs denote winning strategies. We show that our semantics yields a categorical model of Linear Logic and prove full completeness for Multiplicative Linear Logic with the MIX rule: every winning strategy is the denotation of a unique cut-free proof net. A key role is played by the notion of history-free strategy; strong connections are made between history-free strategies and the Geometry of Interaction. Our semantics incorporates a natural notion of polarity, leading to a refined treatment of the additives. We make comparisons with related work by Joyal, Blass et al.

The research reported in this paper is concerned with the problem of reasoning about properties of higher order functions involving state. It is motivated by the desire to identify what, if any, are the difficulties created purely by locality of state, independent of other properties such as side-effects, exceptional termination and non-termination due to recursion. We consider a simple language (equivalent to a fragment of Standard ML) of typed, higher order functions that can dynamically create fresh names. Names are created with local scope, can be tested for equality and can be passed around via function application, but that is all. we demonstrate

To my parents A general abstract theory for computation involving shared resources is presented. We develop the models of sharing graphs, also known as term graphs, in terms of both syntax and semantics. According to the complexity of the permitted form of sharing, we consider four situations of sharing graphs. The simplest is first-order acyclic sharing graphs represented by let-syntax, and others are extensions with higher-order constructs (lambda calculi) and/or cyclic sharing (recursive letrec binding). For each of four settings, we provide the equational theory for representing the sharing graphs, and identify the class of categorical models which are shown to be sound and complete for the theory. The emphasis is put on the algebraic nature of sharing graphs, which leads us to the semantic account of them. We describe the models in terms of the notions of symmetric monoidal categories and functors, additionally with symmetric monoidal adjunctions and traced

In this paper we introduce a model for a wide class of computational systems, whose behaviour can be described by certain rewriting rules. We gathered our inspiration both from the world of term rewriting, in particular from the rewriting logic framework [Mes92], and of concurrency theory: among the others, the structured operational semantics [Plo81], the context systems [LX90] and the structured transition systems [CM92] approaches. Our model recollects many properties of these sources: first, it provides a compositional way to describe both the states and the sequences of transitions performed by a given system, stressing their distributed nature. Second, a suitable notion of typed proof allows to take into account also those formalisms relying on the notions of synchronization and side-effects to determine the actual behaviour of a system. Finally, an equivalence relation over sequences of transitions is defined, equipping the system under analysis with a concurrent semantics, ...

. A general construction of models of call-by-value from models of call-by-name computation is described. The construction makes essential use of the properties of sum types in common denotational models of call-by-name. When applied to categories of games, it yields fully abstract models of the call-by-value functional language PCFv , which can be extended to incorporate recursive types, and of a language with local references as in Standard ML. 1 Introduction In recent years game semantics has emerged as a novel and intuitively appealing approach to modelling programming languages. Its first success was in providing a syntax-free description of a fully abstract model of PCF [10, 1, 15]; full abstraction results have also been obtained for untyped and recursively typed functional languages, as well as languages with imperative features [12, 3]. However, none of this work addressed the problem of modelling call-by-value languages---a major shortcoming, given that many real-life langua...

. We present a categorical logic formulation of induction and coinduction principles for reasoning about inductively and coinductively defined types. Our main results provide sufficient criteria for the validity of such principles: in the presence of comprehension, the induction principle for initial algebras is admissible, and dually, in the presence of quotient types, the coinduction principle for terminal coalgebras is admissible. After giving an alternative formulation of induction in terms of binary relations, we combine both principles and obtain a mixed induction/coinduction principle which allows us to reason about minimal solutions X = oe(X) where X may occur both positively and negatively in the type constructor oe. We further strengthen these logical principles to deal with contexts and prove that such strengthening is valid when the (abstract) logic we consider is contextually/functionally complete. All the main results follow from a basic result about adjunc...

An overview of linear logic is given, including an extensive bibliography and a simple example of the close relationship between linear logic and computation.

In this paper we consider the problem of deriving a term assignment system for Girard's Intuitionistic Linear Logic for both the sequent calculus and natural deduction proof systems. Our system differs from previous calculi (e.g. that of Abramsky) and has two important properties which they lack. These are the substitution property (the set of valid deductions is closed under substitution) and subject reduction (reduction on terms is well-typed). We define a simple (but more general than previous proposals) categorical model for Intuitionistic Linear Logic and show how this can be used to derive the term assignment system. We also consider term reduction arising from cut-elimination in the sequent calculus and normalisation in natural deduction. We explore the relationship between these, as well as with the equations which follow from our categorical model.

The aim of this paper is to relate initial algebra semantics and final coalgebra semantics. It is shown how these two approaches to the semantics of programming languages are each others dual, and some conditions are given under which they coincide. More precisely, it is shown how to derive initial semantics from final semantics, using the initiality and finality to ensure their equality. Moreover, many facts about congruences (on algebras) and (generalized) bisimulations (on coalgebras) are shown to be dual as well.

We present a calculus that captures the operational semantics of call-by-need. The call-by-need lambda calculus is confluent, has a notion of standard reduction, and entails the same observational equivalence relation as the call-by-name calculus. The system can be formulated with or without explicit let bindings, admits useful notions of marking and developments, and has a straightforward operational interpretation. Introduction The correspondence between call-by-value lambda calculi and strict functional languages (such as the pure subset of Standard ML) is quite good; the correspondence between callby -name lambda calculi and lazy functional languages (such as Miranda or Haskell) is not so good. Call-by-name re-evaluates an argument each time it is used, a prohibitive expense. Thus, many lazy languages are implemented using the call-by-need mechanism proposed by Wadsworth (1971), which overwrites an argument with its value the first time it is evaluated, avoiding the need for any s...