Abstract

Issues that are relevant to the representation of lambda terms in contexts where their intensions have to be manipulated are examined. The basis for such a representation is provided by the suspension notation for lambda terms that is described in a companion paper. This notation obviates ff-conversion in the comparison of terms by using the `nameless' scheme of de Bruijn and also permits a delaying of substitutions by including a class of terms that encode other terms together with substitutions to be performed on them. The suspension notation contains a mechanism for `merging' substitutions so that they can be effected in a common structure traversal. The mechanism is cumbersome to implement in its full generality and a simplification to it is considered. In particular, the old merging operations are eliminated in favor of new ones that capture some of their functionality and that permit a simplified syntax for terms. The resulting notation is refined by the addition of annotations ...

Citations