Machines and Recursive Definitions 2.1 Abstract Machines The best-known model of mechanical computation is (still) the first, introduced by Turing [18], and after half a century of study, few doubt the truth of the fundamental Church-Turing Thesis : A function f : N # N on the natural numbers (or, more generally, on strings from a finite alphabet) is computable in principle exactly when it can be computed by a Turing Machine. The Church-Turing Thesis grounds proofs of undecidability and it is essential for the most important applications of logic. On the other hand, it cannot be argued seriously that Turing machines model faithfully all algorithms on the natural numbers. If, for example, we code the input n in binary (rather than unary) notation, then the time needed for the computation of f(n) can sometimes be considerably shortened; and if we let the machine use two tapes rather than one, then (in some cases) we may gain a quadratic speedup of the computation, see [8]. This mea...

this paper the author was partially supported by an NSF grant.

We discuss the conceptual problem of identifying the natural notions of computability at higher types (over the natural numbers). We argue for an eclectic approach, in which one considers a wide range of possible approaches to defining higher type computability and then looks for regularities. As a first step in this programme, we give an extended survey of the di#erent strands of research on higher type computability to date, bringing together material from recursion theory, constructive logic and computer science. The paper thus serves as a reasonably complete overview of the literature on higher type computability. Two sequel papers will be devoted to developing a more systematic account of the material reviewed here.

this paper the author was partially supported by an NSF grant