Abstract

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.

Citations

1497	The Definition of Standard ML - Milner, Tofte, et al. - 1990
996	The Lambda Calculus, Its Syntax and Semantics - Barendregt - 1984
472	A semantics of multiple inheritance - Cardelli - 1988
119	Type checking records and variants in a natural extension of ML - R'emy - 1989
109	Type inference for record concatenation and multiple inheritance - Wand - 1991
55	A record calculus based on symmetric concatenation - Harper, Pierce - 1991
42	editors, Theoretical Aspects of ObjectOriented Programming: Types, Semantics, and Language Design - Gunter, Mitchell - 1994
36	Typing record concatenation for free - Rémy - 1994
32	Parallel reductions in -calculus - Takahashi - 1993
27	A theory of binding structures and applications to rewriting - Talcott - 1993
19	A unified system of parameterization for programming languages - Lamping - 1988
15	Enriching the lambda calculus with contexts: toward a theory of incremental program construction - Lee, Friedman - 1996
11	D.: Ariadne and HOPLa: Flexible Coordination of Collaborative Processes - Florijn, Besamusca, et al. - 1996
9	Type Inference and Subtyping in Higher-Order Generative Communication - Dami - 1996
9	A typed context calculus - Hashimoto, Ohori - 2001
8	The typed polymorphic label-selective lambda-calculus - Garrigue, At-Kaci - 1994
8	Roure. Sharing code through first-class envinroments - Queinnec, De - 1996
8	Semantics of a Higher-Order Coordination Language - Radestock, Eisenbach - 1996
6	Dynamic Modules in Higher-Order Languages - Jagannathan - 1994
5	A Modest Model of Records - Bruce, Longo - 1990
5	et al. The Haskell Report and Haskell Tutorial - Hudak - 1992
2	Sonia: an Adaptation of Linda for Coordination of - Banville