We consider the problem of mechanically constructing abstract machines from operational semantics, producing intermediate-level specifications of evaluators guaranteed to be correct with respect to the operational semantics. We construct these machines by repeatedly applying correctness-preserving transformations to operational semantics until the resulting specifications have the form of abstract machines. Though not automatable in general, this approach to constructing machine implementations can be mechanized, providing machine-verified correctness proofs. As examples we present the transformation of specifications for both call-by-name and call-by-value evaluation of the untyped λ-calculus into abstract machines that implement such evaluation strategies. We also present extensions to the call-by-value machine for a language containing constructs for recursion, conditionals, concrete data types, and built-in functions. In all cases, the correctness of the derived abstract machines follows from the (generally transparent) correctness of the initial operational semantic specification and the correctness of the transformations applied. 1.

We study the complexity of type reconstruction for a core fragment of ML with lambda abstraction, function application, and the polymorphic let declaration. We derive exponential upper and lower bounds on recognizing the typable core ML expressions. Our primary technical tool is unification of succinctly represented type expressions. After observing that core ML expressions, of size n, can be typed in DTIME(2 n ), we exhibit two different families of programs whose principal types grow exponentially. We show how to exploit the expressiveness of the let-polymorphism in these constructions to derive lower bounds on deciding typability: one leads naturally to NP-hardness and the other to DTIME(2 n k )-hardness for each integer k 1. Our generic simulation of any exponential time Turing Machine by ML type reconstruction may be viewed as a nonstandard way of computing with types. Our worst-case lower bounds stand in contrast to practical experience, which suggests that commonly used al...

Abstract † We introduce a new paradigm for the integration of functional and logic programming. Unlike most current research, our approach is not based on extending unification to general-purpose equation solving. Rather, we propose a computation delaying mechanism called residuation. This allows a clear distinction between functional evaluation and logical deduction. The former is based on the λ-calculus, and the latter on Horn clause resolution. In clear contrast with equation-solving approaches, our model supports higher-order function evaluation and efficient compilation of both functional and logic programming expressions, without being plagued by non-deterministic term-rewriting. In addition, residuation lends itself naturally to process synchronization and constrained search. Besides unification (equations), other residuations may be any ground-decidable goal, such as mutual exclusion (inequations), and comparisons (inequalities). We describe an implementation of the residuation paradigm as a prototype language called Le Fun—Logic, equations, and Functions.

The views and conclusions contained in this document arethose of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing o cial policies, either expressed or implied, of the Advanced We present a static and dynamic semantics for an abstract machine that evaluates expressions of a polymorphic programming language. Unlike traditional semantics, our abstract machine exposes many important issues of memory management, such as value sharing and control representation. We prove the soundness of the static semantics with respect to the dynamic semantics using traditional techniques. We then show how these same techniques may be used to establish the soundness of various memory management strategies, including type-based, tag-free garbage collection� tail-call elimination � and environment strengthening. Keywords: management Type theory and operational semantics are remarkably e ective tools for programming

We sketch a methodology for the verification of compiler correctness based on the LF Logical Framework as realized within the Elf programming language. We have applied this technique to specify, implement, and verify a compiler from a simple functional programming language to a variant of the Categorical Abstract Machine (CAM). 1 Introduction Compiler correctness is an essential aspect of program verification as almost all programs are compiled before being executed. Unfortunately, even for small languages and simple compilers, proving their correctness can be an enormous task, and verifying these proofs becomes an equally difficult task. Our goal is to develop techniques for mechanizing proofs of compiler correctness. To this end we employ 1. the LF Logical Framework [13] to specify relationships between source and target languages; 2. the Elf programming language [21] to provide an operational semantics for these relationships; and 3. a related meta-theory [22] to reason about the ...

Functional and logic programming are the most important declarative programming paradigms, and interest in combining them has grown over the last decade. Early research concentrated on the definition and improvement of execution principles for such integrated languages, while more recently efficient implementations of these execution principles have been developed so that these languages became relevant for practical applications. In this paper we survey the development of the operational semantics as well as

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This thesis is primarily about the design of formal programming environments for building large software systems. This work articulates two principles and uses them to guide the design, implementation, and study of a specific formal programming environment. First, design methods for large software systems will include multiple languages, methodologies, and refinement techniques that are suited to problem subdomains. This means that any formal system must provide the ability to define multiple logics, and it is by definition a logical framework. Second, the framework must provide the ability to express formal relations between logical theories to address the problem of system decomposition. This thesis also presents the the MetaPRL formal system. MetaPRL was built to provide a modular, abstract logical framework where multiple designs can be expressed and related. The MetaPRL design builds on our experience with logical frameworks and with structured programming concepts like inheritance and re-use to provide an efficient, highly abstract, logical machine. The contribution includes several parts. • The development of an untyped meta-logic using explicit substitution. • The definition of a very-dependent function type in the Nuprl type theory. • A system architecture for generic multi-logical development. • A generic refiner that provides automation and enforcement for the multiple logical theories in logical environment. • A module system for logics and theories. • A generic distributed interactive theorem prover. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Jason Jonathan Hickey was born in 1963 in a small town called Delano in the heart of California’s central San Jaoquin valley. Jason’s early experiences included the fulfillment of various agricultural obligations with

A notation for lambda terms is described that is useful in contexts where the intensions of these terms need to be manipulated. This notation uses the scheme of de Bruijn for eliminating variable names, thus obviating ff-conversion in comparing terms. This notation also provides for a class of terms that can encode other terms together with substitutions to be performed on them. The notion of an environment is used to realize this `delaying' of substitutions. The precise mechanism employed here is, however, more complex than the usual environment mechanism because it has to support the ability to examine subterms embedded under abstractions. The representation presented permits a fi-contraction to be realized via an atomic step that generates a substitution and associated steps that percolate this substitution over the structure of a term. The operations on terms that are described also include ones for combining substitutions so that they might be performed simultaneously. Our notatio...

We have designed, implemented, and proved the correctness of a compiler generator that accepts action semantic descriptions of imperative programming languages. The generated compilers emit absolute code for an abstract RISC machine language that currently is assembled into code for the SPARC and the HP Precision Architecture. Our machine language needs no run-time type-checking and is thus more realistic than those considered in previous compiler proofs. We use solely algebraic specifications; proofs are given in the initial model. 1 Introduction The previous approaches to proving correctness of compilers for non-trivial languages all use target code with run-time type-checking. The following semantic rule is typical for these target languages: (FIRST : C; hv 1 ; v 2 i : S) ! (C; v 1 : S) The rule describes the semantics of an instruction that extracts the first component of the top-element of the stack, provided that the top-element is a pair. If not, then it is implicit that the...