Abstract not found

This paper investigates some problems associated with an argument evaluation order that we call "future' order, which is different from both call-by-name and call-by-value. In call-by-future, each formal parameter of a function is bound to a separate process (called a "future") dedicated to the evaluation of the corresponding argument. This mechanism allows the fully parallel evaluation of arguments to a function, and has been shown to augment the expressive power of a language. We discuss an approach to a problem that arises in this context: futures which were thought to be relevant when they were created become irrelevant through being ignored in the body of the expression where they were bound. The problem of irrelevant processes also appears in multiprocessing problem-solving systems which start several processors working on the same problem but with different methods, and return with the solution which finishes first. This parallel method strategy has the drawback that the processes which are investigating the losing methods must be identified, stopped, and reassigned to more useful tasks. The solution we propose is that of garbage collection. We propose that the goal structure of the solution plan be explicitly represented in memory as part of the graph memory (like Lisp's heap) so that a garbage collection algorithm can discover which processes are performing useful work, and which can be recycled for a new task. An incremental algorithm for the unified garbage collection of storage and processes is described.

We review the origins of structural operational semantics. The main publication ‘A Structural Approach to Operational Semantics, ’ also known as the ‘Aarhus Notes, ’ appeared in 1981 [G.D. Plotkin, A structural approach to operational semantics, DAIMI FN-19, Computer Science Department, Aarhus University, 1981]. The development of the ideas dates back to the early 1970s, involving many people and building on previous work on programming languages and logic. The former included abstract syntax, the SECD machine, and the abstract interpreting machines of the Vienna school; the latter included the λ-calculus and formal systems. The initial development of structural operational semantics was for simple functional languages, more or less variations of the λ-calculus; after that the ideas were gradually extended to include languages with parallel features, such as Milner’s CCS. This experience set the ground for a more systematic exposition, the subject of an invited course of lectures at Aarhus University; some of these appeared in print as the 1981 Notes. We discuss the content of these lectures and some related considerations such as ‘small state’ versus ‘grand state, ’ structural versus compositional semantics, the influence of the Scott–Strachey approach to denotational semantics, the treatment of recursion and jumps, and static semantics. We next discuss relations with other work and some immediate further development. We conclude with an account of an old, previously unpublished, idea: an alternative, perhaps more readable, graphical presentation of systems of rules for operational semantics.

The foundations of functional programming languages are examined from both historical and technical perspectives. Their evolution is traced through several critical periods: early work on lambda calculus and combinatory calculus, Lisp, Iswim, FP, ML, and modern functional languages such as Miranda ’ and Haskell. The fundamental premises on which

Abstract not found

Abstract not found

This work has been supported by

The aim of this thesis is to give a new understanding of sequential computations in higher types. We present a new computation model for higher types based on a game describing the interaction between a functional and its arguments. The functionals which may be described in this way are called hereditarily sequential. We show that this computation model captures exactly the notion of computability in higher types introduced by Kleene in his pioneering work starting 1959. We study the order structure of the hereditarily sequential functionals and discuss the occurring difficulties. These functionals form a fully abstract model for PCF and we discuss which problems remain still open for a satisfactory solution to the full abstraction problem of PCF. Zusammenfassung Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, eine neue Beschreibung sequentieller Berechnungen in hoheren Typen zu geben. Wir stellen dazu ein neues Berechnungsmodell fur hohere Typen vor, in dem die Interaktion zwischen einem Funktional und se...

Abstract not found

In a non-strict language, functions may return values before their arguments are available, and data structures may be defined before all their components are defined. Compiling such languages to conventional hardware is not straightforward; instructions do not have a fixed compile time ordering. Such an ordering is necessary to execute programs efficiently on current microprocessors. Partitioning is the process of compiling a non-strict program into threads (i.e., a sequence of instructions). This process involves detecting data dependencies at compile time and using these dependencies to "sequentialize" parts of the program. Previous work on partitioning did not propagate dependence information across recursive procedure boundaries. Using a representation known as Paths we are able to represent dependence information of recursive functions. Also, we incorporate them into a known partitioning algorithm. However, this algorithm fails to make use of all the information contained in pat...