This paper proposes N , a compact extension of the -calculus to model dynamic binding, where variables are labelled by names, and where arguments are passed to functions along named channels. The resulting formalism preserves familiar properties of the -calculus, has a Curry-style type inference system, and has a formal notion of compatibility for reasoning about extensible environments. It can encode record and record extensions, as well as first-class contexts with context-filling operations, and therefore provides a basic framework for expressing a wide range of name-based coordination mechanisms. An experimental functional language based on N illustrates the exploitation of dynamic binding in programming language design. 1 Introduction Computer systems are required to be increasingly "open" --- able to dynamically interact with other, possibly unknown or weakly specified systems, and able to coordinate together a global computation. In order to follow this evolution, computational models pay ever increasing attention to notions such as concurrency and distribution. However, open systems also often depend on another concept, more or less orthogonal to the previous ones, and which seems to have been less investigated in theoretical studies: dynamic binding.

. Dynamic linking provides functionality that is necessary for secure flexible use of mobile programs but it introduces a new class of runtime errors - unbound procedure names. In this chapter, we present a compiler-directed technique for safe dynamic linking for mobile programs. Our technique guarantees that linking failures can occur only when a program arrives at a new execution site and that this failure can be delivered to the program as an error code or an exception. We use interprocedural analysis to identify the set of names that must be linked at the different sites the program executes on. We use a combination of runtime and compile-time techniques to identify the calling context and to link only the names needed in that context. Our technique is able to handle recursive programs as well as separately compiled code that may itself be able to move. We discuss language constructs for controlling the behavior of dynamic linking and the implication of some of these constructs for...

This dissertation presents a framework for the application of compositional modularity, a module model that facilitates extensive reuse of highly decomposed software. Compositional modularity supports not only the traditional notions of program decomposition and encapsulation but also effective mechanisms for module recomposition. Based on a previously developed model, a suite of operators individually achieve effects of adaptation and combination on a simple notion of modules viewed as self-referential namespaces. This dissertation extends the previous model by introducing the notion of hierarchical nesting as a composition operation. Furthermore, this work shows that compositional modularity is unifying in scope. Important effects and idioms of advanced modularity, including several varieties of inheritance in object-oriented programming, find convenient expression within this model. Compositional modularity can be applied within a wide range of systems that manipulate self-referenti...

In this paper, we present a compiler-directed technique for safe dynamic linking for mobile programs. Our technique guarantees that linking failures can occur only when a program arrives at a new execution site and that this failure can be delivered to the program as an error code or an exception. We use interprocedural analysis to identify the set of names that must be linked at the different sites the program executes on. We use a combination of runtime and compile-time techniques to identify the calling context and to link only the names needed in that context. Our technique is able to handle recursive programs as well as separately compiled code that may itself be able to move. We discuss language constructs for controlling the behavior of dynamic linking and the implication of some of these constructs for application structure. 1 Introduction Mobile programs can move from host to host during execution. At migration points, the execution stack and the heap of the program are trans...

The original aim of the work that led to this dissertation was to extend an existing, purely functional language with facilities for input/output and modular programming. The language is based on an untyped -calculus, i.e., program execution is defined as program transformation according to a fixed set of reduction rules including fi-reduction. Consistently, the implementation comprises an interactive reduction system which is integrated with a syntax-oriented editor: any sub-expression or program result can be submitted for (stepwise) reduction. There is no distinguished main program, no `global' environment and no explicit static part of the language -- in particular, there is no static type system. It is therefore not clear how to add one of the known solutions for input/output or modular programming to such a programming environment. Furthermore, simply adding features to the language would lead to a complex language design with weakly integrated parts, thus losing much of the appe...