We propose a method to extend an ML-style polymorphic language with transparent communication primitives, and give their precise operational semantics. These primitives allow any polymorphic programs de nable in ML to be used remotely in a manner completely transparent to the programmer. Furthermore, communicating programs may be based on di erent architecture and use di erent data representations. We de ne a polymorphic functional calculus with transparent communication primitives, which we call dML, as an extension of Damas and Milner's proof system for ML. We then develop an algorithm to translate dML to a \core " language containing only low-level communication primitives that are readily implementable in most of distributed environments. To establish the type safety of communicating programs, we de ne an operational semantics of the core language and prove that the polymorphic type system of dML is sound with respect to the operational semantics of the translated terms of the core language.

This paper proposes an information management system providing distribution and persistency. By separating context from virtual address space, our system has a uni ed approach for both distribution and persistency. The former is achieved by moving contexts between sites and the latter by moving contexts between virtual address space and persistent storage. Contexts include any information including data, program, and even the state of execution of a program. Contexts are stored persistently in a logical space termed the distributed shared repository (DSR for short). This paper proposes a programming model for DSR. Using the model, persistency, ne-grain mobility of information, and the passing of various distributed parameters can be obtained. The implementation and experimental performance of the system are also presented. 1