Amal J. Ahmed Andrew W. Appel # Roberto Virga Princeton University {amal,appel,rvirga}@cs.princeton.edu Abstract We demonstrate a semantic model of general references --- that is, mutable memory cells that may contain values of any (statically-checked) closed type, including other references. Our model is in terms of execution sequences on a von Neumann machine

Moggi’s Computational Monads and Power et al’s equivalent notion of Freyd category have captured a large range of computational effects present in programming languages such as exceptions, side-effects, input/output and continuations. We present generalisations of both constructs, which we call parameterised monads and parameterised Freyd categories, that also capture computational effects with parameters. Examples of such are composable continuations, side-effects where the type of the state varies and input/output where the range of inputs and outputs varies. By also considering monoidal parameterisation, we extend the range of effects to cover separated side-effects and multiple independent streams of I/O. We also present two typed λ-calculi that soundly and completely model our categorical definitions — with and without monoidal parameterisation — and act as prototypical languages with parameterised effects.

While the semantics of local variables in programming languages is by now well-understood, the semantics of pointer-addressed heap variables is still an outstanding issue. In particular, the commonly assumed relational reasoning principles for data representations have not been validated in a semantic model of heap variables. In this paper, we de ne a parametricity semantics for a Pascal-like language with pointers and heap variables which gives such reasoning principles. It is found that the correspondences between data representations are not simply relations between states, but more intricate correspondences that also need to keep track of visible locations whose pointers can be stored and leaked.

Self-adjusting computation enables writing programs that can automatically and efficiently respond to changes to their data (e.g., inputs). The idea behind the approach is to store all data that can change over time in modifiable references and to let computations construct traces that can drive change propagation. After changes have occurred, change propagation updates the result of the computation by re-evaluating only those expressions that depend on the changed data. Previous approaches to selfadjusting computation require that modifiable references be written at most once during execution—this makes the model applicable only in a purely functional setting. In this paper, we present techniques for imperative self-adjusting computation where modifiable references can be written multiple times. We define a language SAIL (Self-Adjusting Imperative Language) and prove consistency, i.e., that change propagation and from-scratch execution are observationally equivalent. Since SAIL programs are imperative, they can create cyclic data structures. To prove equivalence in the presence of cycles in the store, we formulate and use an untyped, step-indexed logical relation, where step indices are used to ensure well-foundedness. We show that SAIL accepts an asymptotically efficient implementation by presenting algorithms and data structures for its implementation. When the number of operations (reads and writes) per modifiable is bounded by a constant, we show that change propagation becomes as efficient as in the non-imperative case. The general case incurs a slowdown that is logarithmic in the maximum number of such operations. We describe a prototype implementation of SAIL as a Standard ML library. 1

We study a general algebraic framework which underlies a wide range of computational formalisms...

Abstract. We describe a game semantics for local names in a functional setting. It is based on a category of dialogue games acted upon by the automorphism group of the natural numbers; this allows properties of names such as freshness and locality to be characterized semantically. We describe a model of the nu-calculus in this category, and extend it with named references (without bad variables) using names as pointers to a store. After refining the semantics via a notion of garbage collection, we prove that the compact elements are definable as terms, and hence obtain a full abstraction result. 1 Introduction Local names are a pervasive and subtle feature of programming languages and other calculi. Not only are they used for manipulating important constructs such as locally bound references and exceptions, name-passing is itself a very expressive computational paradigm, as demonstrated by the ss-calculus, for example. Local names can also represent items of secret information which are dynamically generated, passed between agents and used to access further information or activity. They therefore have a key r^ole in specifying properties of secure systems [1, 24].

Abstract. We introduce an extension of Hoare logic for call-by-value higherorder functions with ML-like local reference generation. Local references may be generated dynamically and exported outside their scope, may store higherorder functions and may be used to construct complex mutable data structures. This primitive is captured logically using a predicate asserting reachability of a reference name from a possibly higher-order datum and quantifiers over hidden references. The logic enjoys three completeness properties: relative completeness, a logical characterisation of the contextual congruence and derivability of characteristic formulae. We explore the logic’s descriptive and reasoning power with non-trivial programming examples combining higher-order procedures and dynamically generated local state. Axioms for reachability and local invariant play a central role for reasoning about the examples. 1

Abstract. The general aim of this talk is to advocate a combinatorial perspective, together with its methods, in the investigation and study of models of computation structures. This, of course, should be taken in conjunction with the wellestablished views and methods stemming from algebra, category theory, domain theory, logic, type theory, etc. In support of this proposal I will show how such an approach leads to interesting connections between various areas of computer science and mathematics; concentrating on one such example in some detail. Specifically, I will consider the line of my research involving denotational models of the pi calculus and algebraic theories with variable-binding operators, indicating how the abstract mathematical structure underlying these models fits with that of Joyal’s combinatorial species of structures. This analysis suggests both the unification and generalisation of models, and in the latter vein I will introduce generalised species of structures and their calculus. These generalised species encompass and generalise various of the notions of species used in combinatorics. Furthermore, they have a rich mathematical structure (akin to models of Girard’s linear logic) that can be described purely within Lawvere’s generalised logic. Indeed, I will present and treat the cartesian closed structure, the linear structure, the differential structure, etc. of generalised species axiomatically in this mathematical framework. As an upshot, I will observe that the setting allows for interpretations of computational calculi (like the lambda calculus, both typed and untyped; the recently introduced differential lambda calculus of Ehrhard and Regnier; etc.) that can be directly seen as translations into a more basic elementary calculus of interacting agents that compute by communicating and operating upon structured data.

Typed Assembly Languages (TALs) are used to validate the safety of machine-language programs. The Foundational Proof-Carrying Code project seeks to verify the soundness of TALs using the smallest possible set of axioms—the axioms of a suitably expressive logic plus a specification of machine semantics. This paper proposes general semantic foundations that permit modular proofs of the soundness of TALs. These semantic foundations include Typed Machine Language (TML), a type theory for specifying properties of low-level data with powerful and orthogonal type constructors, and Lc, a compositional logic for specifying properties of machine instructions with simplified reasoning about unstructured control flow. Both of these components, whose semantics we specify using higher-order logic, are useful for proving the soundness of TALs. We demonstrate this by using TML and Lc to verify the soundness of a low-level, typed assembly language, LTAL, which is the target of our core-ML-to-sparc compiler. To prove the soundness of the TML type system we have successfully applied a new approach, that of step-indexed logical relations. This approach provides the first semantic model for a type system with updatable references to values of impredicative quantified types. Both impredicative polymorphism and mutable references are essential when representing function closures in compilers with typed closure conversion, or when compiling objects to simpler typed primitives.

The nu-calculus of Pitts and Stark is a typed lambda-calculus, extended with state in the form of dynamically-generated names. These names can be created locally, passed around, and compared with one another. Through the interaction between names and functions, the language can capture notions of scope, visibility and sharing. Originally motivated by the study of references in Standard ML, the nu-calculus has connections to other kinds of local declaration, and to the mobile processes of the -calculus.