The λσ-calculus is a refinement of the λ-calculus where substitutions are manipulated explicitly. The λσ-calculus provides a setting for studying the theory of substitutions, with pleasant mathematical properties. It is also a useful bridge between the classical λ-calculus and concrete implementations.

The choice of a parameter-passing technique is an important decision in the design of a high-level programming language. To clarify some of the semantic aspects of the decision, we develop, analyze, and compare modifications of the -calculus for the most common parameter-passing techniques, i.e., call-by-value and call-by-name combined with pass-by-worth and passby -reference, respectively. More specifically, for each parameter-passing technique we provide 1. a program rewriting semantics for a language with side-effects and first-class procedures based on the respective parameter-passing technique; 2. an equational theory that is derived from the rewriting semantics in a uniform manner; 3. a formal analysis of the correspondence between the calculus and the semantics; and 4. a strong normalization theorem for the imperative fragment of the theory (when applicable). A comparison of the various systems reveals that Algol's call-by-name indeed satisfies the well-known fi rule of the orig...

We give a brief account of the discoveries of continuations and related concepts by, A. Van Wijngaarden , A. W. Mazurkiewicz , F. L. Morris , C. P. Wadsworth , J. H. Morris , M. J. Fischer , and S. K. Abdali.

Lamping discovered an optimal graph-reduction implementation of the -calculus. Simultaneously, Girard invented the geometry of interaction, a mathematical foundation for operational semantics. In this paper, we connect and explain the geometry of interaction and Lamping's graphs. The geometry of interaction provides a suitable semantic basis for explaining and improving Lamping's system. On the other hand, graphs similar to Lamping's provide a concrete representation of the geometry of interaction. Together, they offer a new understanding of computation, as well as ideas for efficient and correct implementations.

We present an equational framework for term graph rewriting with cycles. The usual notion of homomorphism is phrased in terms of the notion of bisimulation, which is well-known in process algebra and concurrency theory. Specifically, a homomorphism is a functional bisimulation. We prove that the bisimilarity class of a term graph, partially ordered by functional bisimulation, is a complete lattice. It is shown how Equational Logic induces a notion of copying and substitution on term graphs, or systems of recursion equations, and also suggests the introduction of hidden or nameless nodes in a term graph. Hidden nodes can be used only once. The general framework of term graphs with copying is compared with the more restricted copying facilities embodied in the µ-rule, and translations are given between term graphs and µ-expressions. Using these, a proof system is given for µ-expressions that is complete for the semantics given by infinite tree unwinding. Next, orthogonal term graph rewrite ...

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.

This report describes a framework for representing and validating formal proofs in various axiomatic systems. The framework is based on the Edinburgh Logical Framework (LF) but is optimized for minimizing the size of proofs and the complexity of proof validation, by removing redundant representation components. Several variants of representation algorithms are presented with the resulting representations being a factor of 15 smaller than similar LF representations. The validation algorithm is a reconstruction algorithm that runs about 7 times faster than LF typechecking. We present a full proof of correctness of the reconstruction algorithm and hints for the efficient implementation using explicit substitutions. We conclude with a quantitative analysis of the algorithms. This research was sponsored in part by the Advanced Research Projects Agency CSTO under the title "The Fox Project: Advanced Languages for Systems Software," ARPA Order No. C533, issued by ESC/ENS under Contract No. F1...

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. We precisely characterize a class of cyclic lambda-graphs, and then give a sound and complete axiomatization of the terms that represent a given graph. The equational axiom system is an extension of lambda calculus with the letrec construct. In contrast to current theories, which impose restrictions on where the rewriting can take place, our theory is very liberal, e.g., it allows rewriting under lambda-abstractions and on cycles. As shown previously, the reduction theory is non-confluent. We thus introduce an approximate notion of confluence. Using this notion we define the infinite normal form or L'evy-Longo tree of a cyclic term. We show that the infinite normal form defines a congruence on the set of terms. We relate our cyclic lambda calculus to the traditional lambda calculus and to the infinitary lambda calculus. Since most implementations of non-strict functional languages rely on sharing to avoid repeating computations, we develop a variant of our calculus that enforces the ...

Higher-order constructs provide the necessary level of abstraction for concise and natural formulations in many areas of computer science. We present constructive methods for higher-order equational reasoning with applications ranging from theorem proving to novel programming concepts. A major problem of higher-order programming is the undecidability of higher-order unification. In the first part, we develop several classes with decidable second-order unification. As the main result, we show that the unification of a linear higher-order pattern s with an arbitrary second-order term that shares no variables with s is decidable and finitely solvable. This is the unification needed for second-order functional-logic programming. The second main contribution is a framework for solving higher-order equational problems by narrowing. In the first-order case, narrowing is the underlying computation rule for the integration of logic programming and functional programming. We argue that there are...