scholarly journals Putting Gradual Types to Work

2021 ◽  
pp. 54-70
Author(s):  
Bhargav Shivkumar ◽  
Enrique Naudon ◽  
Lukasz Ziarek
Keyword(s):  
Type System ◽  
Type Inference ◽  
Functional Language ◽  
Industrial Setting ◽  
Gradual Typing ◽  
Static Checking ◽  
Dynamic Typing ◽  
Dynamic Checking

AbstractIn this paper, we describe our experience incorporating gradual types in a statically typed functional language with Hindley-Milner style type inference. Where most gradually typed systems aim to improve static checking in a dynamically typed language, we approach it from the opposite perspective and promote dynamic checking in a statically typed language. Our approach provides a glimpse into how languages like SML and OCaml might handle gradual typing. We discuss our implementation and challenges faced—specifically how gradual typing rules apply to our representation of composite and recursive types. We review the various implementations that add dynamic typing to a statically typed language in order to highlight the different ways of mixing static and dynamic typing and examine possible inspirations while maintaining the gradual nature of our type system. This paper also discusses our motivation for adding gradual types to our language, and the practical benefits of doing so in our industrial setting.

scholarly journals Localized Lama Gradual Typing

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 61-76
Author(s):  
Viktor Sergeevich Kryshtapovich
Keyword(s):  
Programming Language ◽  
Type System ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Type Systems ◽  
Modern Approach ◽  
Type Safety ◽  
Current Implementation ◽  
Gradual Typing ◽  
Dynamic Typing ◽  
Static Typing

Gradual typing is a modern approach for combining benefits of static typing and dynamic typing. Although scientific research aim for soundness of type systems, many of languages intentionally make their type system unsound for speeding up performance. This paper describes an implementation of a dialect for Lama programming language that supports gradual typing with explicit annotation of dangerous parts of code. The target of current implementation is to grant type safety to programs while keeping their power of untyped expressiveness. This paper covers implementation issues and properties of created type system. Finally, some perspectives on improving precision and soundness of type system are discussed.

scholarly journals Practical type inference for arbitrary-rank types

2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
SIMON PEYTON JONES ◽  
DIMITRIOS VYTINIOTIS ◽  
STEPHANIE WEIRICH ◽  
MARK SHIELDS
Keyword(s):  
Type System ◽  
Type Systems ◽  
Inference Engine ◽  
Type Inference ◽  
Functional Language ◽  
Local Type ◽  
Arbitrary Rank ◽  
Complete Type ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Higher Rank

AbstractHaskell's popularity has driven the need for ever more expressive type system features, most of which threaten the decidability and practicality of Damas-Milner type inference. One such feature is the ability to write functions with higher-rank types – that is, functions that take polymorphic functions as their arguments. Complete type inference is known to be undecidable for higher-rank (impredicative) type systems, but in practice programmers are more than willing to add type annotations to guide the type inference engine, and to document their code. However, the choice of just what annotations are required, and what changes are required in the type system and its inference algorithm, has been an ongoing topic of research. We take as our starting point a λ-calculus proposed by Odersky and Läufer. Their system supports arbitrary-rank polymorphism through the exploitation of type annotations on λ-bound arguments and arbitrary sub-terms. Though elegant, and more convenient than some other proposals, Odersky and Läufer's system requires many annotations. We show how to use local type inference (invented by Pierce and Turner) to greatly reduce the annotation burden, to the point where higher-rank types become eminently usable. Higher-rank types have a very modest impact on type inference. We substantiate this claim in a very concrete way, by presenting a complete type-inference engine, written in Haskell, for a traditional Damas-Milner type system, and then showing how to extend it for higher-rank types. We write the type-inference engine using a monadic framework: it turns out to be a particularly compelling example of monads in action. The paper is long, but is strongly tutorial in style. Although we use Haskell as our example source language, and our implementation language, much of our work is directly applicable to any ML-like functional language.

scholarly journals Gradual session types

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
ATSUSHI IGARASHI ◽  
PETER THIEMANN ◽  
YUYA TSUDA ◽  
VASCO T. VASCONCELOS ◽  
PHILIP WADLER
Keyword(s):  
Operational Semantics ◽  
Type System ◽  
Type Systems ◽  
Session Types ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Seamless Transition ◽  
Linear Types ◽  
Gradual Typing ◽  
Session Type ◽  
Dynamic Typing

Abstract Session types are a rich type discipline, based on linear types, that lifts the sort of safety claims that come with type systems to communications. However, web-based applications and microservices are often written in a mix of languages, with type disciplines in a spectrum between static and dynamic typing. Gradual session types address this mixed setting by providing a framework which grants seamless transition between statically typed handling of sessions and any required degree of dynamic typing. We propose Gradual GV as a gradually typed extension of the functional session type system GV. Following a standard framework of gradual typing, Gradual GV consists of an external language, which relaxes the type system of GV using dynamic types; an internal language with casts, for which operational semantics is given; and a cast-insertion translation from the former to the latter. We demonstrate type and communication safety as well as blame safety, thus extending previous results to functional languages with session-based communication. The interplay of linearity and dynamic types requires a novel approach to specifying the dynamics of the language.

A system of constructor classes: overloading and implicit higher-order polymorphism

1995 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark P. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Type System ◽  
Type Systems ◽  
Natural Generalization ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Functional Language ◽  
Effective Algorithm ◽  
Prototype Implementation ◽  
Type Classes

AbstractThis paper describes a flexible type system that combines overloading and higher-order polymorphism in an implicitly typed language using a system of constructor classes—a natural generalization of type classes in Haskell. We present a range of examples to demonstrate the usefulness of such a system. In particular, we show how constructor classes can be used to support the use of monads in a functional language. The underlying type system permits higher-order polymorphism but retains many of the attractive features that have made Hindley/Milner type systems so popular. In particular, there is an effective algorithm that can be used to calculate principal types without the need for explicit type or kind annotations. A prototype implementation has been developed providing, amongst other things, the first concrete implementation of monad comprehensions known to us at the time of writing.

scholarly journals Three Discussions on Object-Oriented Typing

1991 ◽  
Vol 20 (362) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Palsberg ◽  
Michael I. Schwartzbach
Keyword(s):  
Object Oriented ◽  
Type Inference ◽  
Dynamic Typing ◽  
Static Versus Dynamic

<p>This paper summarizes three discussions conducted at the ECOOP'91 W5 Workshop on ''Types, Inheritance, and Assignments'' Tuesday July 16, 1991 in Geneva, Switzerland, organized by the authors.</p><p> </p><p>The three discussions were entitled ''Classes versus Types'', ''Static versus Dynamic Typing'', and ''Type Inference''. All these topics were assumed to be volatile and controversial; indeed, a broad range of diverging opinions were represented. However, much superficial disagreement seemed to be rooted in confusions about terminology. When such issues were resolved, there appeared a consensus about basic definitions and the - often incompatible - choices that one is at liberty to make. This clarification, which we hope to have described below, was the most important achievement of the workshop.</p>

scholarly journals How to make ad hoc proof automation less ad hoc

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
GEORGES GONTHIER ◽  
BETA ZILIANI ◽  
ALEKSANDAR NANEVSKI ◽  
DEREK DREYER
Keyword(s):  
Design Patterns ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Type System ◽  
Type Inference ◽  
Interactive Theorem Provers ◽  
Proof Automation ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Type Classes ◽  
Structure Programming ◽  
Base Logic

AbstractMost interactive theorem provers provide support for some form of user-customizable proof automation. In a number of popular systems, such as Coq and Isabelle, this automation is achieved primarily through tactics, which are programmed in a separate language from that of the prover's base logic. While tactics are clearly useful in practice, they can be difficult to maintain and compose because, unlike lemmas, their behavior cannot be specified within the expressive type system of the prover itself.We propose a novel approach to proof automation in Coq that allows the user to specify the behavior of custom automated routines in terms of Coq's own type system. Our approach involves a sophisticated application of Coq's canonical structures, which generalize Haskell type classes and facilitate a flexible style of dependently-typed logic programming. Specifically, just as Haskell type classes are used to infer the canonical implementation of an overloaded term at a given type, canonical structures can be used to infer the canonical proof of an overloaded lemma for a given instantiation of its parameters. We present a series of design patterns for canonical structure programming that enable one to carefully and predictably coax Coq's type inference engine into triggering the execution of user-supplied algorithms during unification, and we illustrate these patterns through several realistic examples drawn from Hoare Type Theory. We assume no prior knowledge of Coq and describe the relevant aspects of Coq type inference from first principles.

FIRST-CLASS CONTEXTS IN ML

2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (01) ◽  
pp. 65-87
Author(s):  
MASATOMO HASHIMOTO
Keyword(s):  
Programming Language ◽  
Operational Semantics ◽  
Type System ◽  
Type Inference ◽  
Inference Algorithm ◽  
Hole Filling ◽  
Dynamic Binding ◽  
Polymorphic Type ◽  
Open Program ◽  
Program Modules

This paper develops an ML-style programming language with first-class contexts i.e. expressions with holes. The crucial operation for contexts is hole-filling. Filling a hole with an expression has the effect of dynamic binding or macro expansion which provides the advanced feature of manipulating open program fragments. Such mechanisms are useful in many systems including distributed/mobile programming and program modules. If we can treat a context as a first-class citizen in a programming language, then we can manipulate open program fragments in a flexible and seamless manner. A possibility of such a programming language was shown by the theory of simply typed context calculus developed by Hashimoto and Ohori. This paper extends the simply typed system of the context calculus to an ML-style polymorphic type system, and gives an operational semantics and a sound and complete type inference algorithm.

How to evaluate the performance of gradual type systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
BEN GREENMAN ◽  
ASUMU TAKIKAWA ◽  
MAX S. NEW ◽  
DANIEL FELTEY ◽  
ROBERT BRUCE FINDLER ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Type System ◽  
Type Systems ◽  
Relative Performance ◽  
Systematic Evaluation ◽  
Gradual Typing ◽  
The Absolute

Abstract A sound gradual type system ensures that untyped components of a program can never break the guarantees of statically typed components. This assurance relies on runtime checks, which in turn impose performance overhead in proportion to the frequency and nature of interaction between typed and untyped components. The literature on gradual typing lacks rigorous descriptions of methods for measuring the performance of gradual type systems. This gap has consequences for the implementors of gradual type systems and developers who use such systems. Without systematic evaluation of mixed-typed programs, implementors cannot precisely determine how improvements to a gradual type system affect performance. Developers cannot predict whether adding types to part of a program will significantly degrade (or improve) its performance. This paper presents the first method for evaluating the performance of sound gradual type systems. The method quantifies both the absolute performance of a gradual type system and the relative performance of two implementations of the same gradual type system. To validate the method, the paper reports on its application to 20 programs and 3 implementations of Typed Racket.

1ML – Core and modules united

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREAS ROSSBERG
Keyword(s):  
Type Inference ◽  
Type Structure ◽  
The Other ◽  
Dependent Types ◽  
Functional Language ◽  
Minor Variation ◽  
Standard Ml ◽  
The Core ◽  
A Minor ◽  
System F

AbstractML is two languages in one: there is the core, with types and expressions, and there are modules, with signatures, structures, and functors. Modules form a separate, higher-order functional language on top of the core. There are both practical and technical reasons for this stratification; yet, it creates substantial duplication in syntax and semantics, and it imposes seemingly unnecessary limits on expressiveness because it makes modules second-class citizens of the language. For example, selecting one among several possible modules implementing a given interface cannot be made a dynamic decision. Language extensions allowing modules to be packaged up as first-class values have been proposed and implemented in different variations. However, they remedy expressiveness only to some extent and tend to be even more syntactically heavyweight than using second-class modules alone. We propose a redesign of ML in which modules are truly first-class values, and core and module layers are unified into one language. In this “1ML”, functions, functors, and even type constructors are one and the same construct; likewise, no distinction is needed between structures, records, or tuples. Or viewed the other way round, everything is just (“a mode of use of”) modules. Yet, 1ML does not require dependent types: its type structure is expressible in terms of plain System Fω, with a minor variation of our F-ing modules approach. We introduce both an explicitly typed version of 1ML and an extension with Damas–Milner-style implicit quantification. Type inference for this language is not complete, but, we argue, not substantially worse than for Standard ML.

A certified implementation of ML with structural polymorphism and recursive types

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 867-891 ◽  
Author(s):  
JACQUES GARRIGUE
Keyword(s):  
Type System ◽  
Type Inference ◽  
Structural Polymorphism

The type system of Objective Caml has many unique features, which make ensuring the correctness of its implementation difficult. One of these features is structurally polymorphic types, such as polymorphic object and variant types, which have the extra specificity of allowing recursion. We implemented in Coq a certified interpreter for Core ML extended with structural polymorphism and recursion. Along with type soundness of evaluation, soundness and principality of type inference, and correctness of a stack-based interpreter, are also proved.†

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document