An extended comparative study of language support for generic programming

2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
RONALD GARCIA ◽  
JAAKKO JARVI ◽  
ANDREW LUMSDAINE ◽  
JEREMY SIEK ◽  
JEREMIAH WILLCOCK
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Generic Programming ◽  
Multiple Constraints ◽  
Separate Compilation ◽  
Standard Ml ◽  
Implicit Argument ◽  
Comprehensive Comparison ◽  
Programming Support ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Argument Type

AbstractMany modern programming languages support basic generics, sufficient to implement type-safe polymorphic containers. Some languages have moved beyond this basic support, and in doing so have enabled a broader, more powerful form of generic programming. This paper reports on a comprehensive comparison of facilities for generic programming in eight programming languages: C++, Standard ML, Objective Caml, Haskell, Eiffel, Java, C# (with its proposed generics extension), and Cecil. By implementing a substantial example in each of these languages, we illustrate how the basic roles of generic programming can be represented in each language. We also identify eight language properties that support this broader view of generic programming: support for multi-type concepts, multiple constraints on type parameters, convenient associated type access, constraints on associated types, retroactive modeling, type aliases, separate compilation of algorithms and data structures, and implicit argument type deduction for generic algorithms. We find that these features are necessary to avoid awkward designs, poor maintainability, and painfully verbose code. As languages increasingly support generics, it is important that language designers understand the features necessary to enable the effective use of generics and that their absence can cause difficulties for programmers.

Real-time MLton: A Standard ML runtime for real-time functional programs

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
BHARGAV SHIVKUMAR ◽  
JEFFREY MURPHY ◽  
LUKASZ ZIAREK
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Concurrency Control ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Functional Languages ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Real Time Systems ◽  
Functional Programming Languages ◽  
Standard Ml ◽  
Time Systems

Abstract There is a growing interest in leveraging functional programming languages in real-time and embedded contexts. Functional languages are appealing as many are strictly typed, amenable to formal methods, have limited mutation, and have simple but powerful concurrency control mechanisms. Although there have been many recent proposals for specialized domain-specific languages for embedded and real-time systems, there has been relatively little progress on adapting more general purpose functional languages for programming embedded and real-time systems. In this paper, we present our current work on leveraging Standard ML (SML) in the embedded and real-time domains. Specifically, we detail our experiences in modifying MLton, a whole-program optimizing compiler for SML, for use in such contexts. We focus primarily on the language runtime, reworking the threading subsystem, object model, and garbage collector. We provide preliminary results over a radar-based aircraft collision detector ported to SML.

scholarly journals A separate compilation extension to standard ML

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Swasey ◽  
Tom Murphy ◽  
Karl Crary ◽  
Robert Harper
Keyword(s):  
Separate Compilation ◽  
Standard Ml

Principal signatures for higher-order program modules

1994 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mads Tofte
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Functional Programming ◽  
Operational Semantics ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Principal Type ◽  
Functional Programming Languages ◽  
Standard Ml ◽  
Static Semantics ◽  
Program Modules

AbstractIn this paper we present a language for programming with higher-order modules. The language HML is based on Standard ML in that it provides structures, signatures and functors. In HML, functors can be declared inside structures and specified inside signatures; this is not possible in Standard ML. We present an operational semantics for the static semantics of HML signature expressions, with particular emphasis on the handling of sharing. As a justification for the semantics, we prove a theorem about the existence of principal signatures. This result is closely related to the existence of principal type schemes for functional programming languages with polymorphism.

Type-safe run-time polytypic programming

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 681-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEPHANIE WEIRICH
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Prototype Implementation ◽  
Separate Compilation ◽  
Run Time ◽  
Type Information

Polytypic programming is a way of defining type-indexed operations, such as map, fold and zip, based on type information. Run-time polytypic programming allows that type information to be dynamically computed – this support is essential in modern programming languages that support separate compilation, first-class type abstraction, or polymorphic recursion. However, in previous work we defined run-time polytypic programming with a type-passing semantics. Although it is natural to define polytypic programs as operating over first-class types, such a semantics suffers from a number of drawbacks. This paper describes how to recast that work in a type-erasure semantics, where terms represent type information in a safe manner. The resulting language is simple and easy to implement – we present a prototype implementation of the necessary machinery as a small Haskell library.

scholarly journals Scala for generic programmers

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 303-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRUNO C. D. S. OLIVEIRA ◽  
JEREMY GIBBONS
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Functional Programming ◽  
Object Oriented ◽  
Generic Programming ◽  
Functional Programming Languages ◽  
Multiple Inheritance ◽  
Functional Object ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Higher Order Functions ◽  
Object Oriented Languages

AbstractDatatype-generic programming (DGP) involves parametrization of programs by the shape of data, in the form of type constructors such as ‘list of’. Most approaches to DGP are developed in pure functional programming languages such as Haskell. We argue that the functional object-oriented language Scala is in many ways a better choice. Not only does Scala provide equivalents of all the necessary functional programming features (such as parametric polymorphism, higher-order functions, higher-kinded type operations, and type- and constructor-classes), but it also provides the most useful features of object-oriented languages (such as subtyping, overriding, traditional single inheritance, and multiple inheritance in the form of traits). Common Haskell techniques for DGP can be conveniently replicated in Scala, whereas the extra expressivity provides some important additional benefits in terms of extensibility and reuse. We illustrate this by comparing two simple approaches in Haskell, pointing out their limitations and showing how equivalent approaches in Scala address some of these limitations. Finally, we present three case studies on how to implement in Scala real DGP approaches from the literature: Hinze's ‘Generics for the Masses’, Lämmel and Peyton Jones's ‘Scrap your Boilerplate with Class’, and Gibbons's ‘Origami Programming’.

Functional programming languages for AI problem solving

1991 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-235
Author(s):  
Eleanor Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Programming Languages ◽  
Functional Programming ◽  
Efficient Solutions ◽  
Rational Reconstruction ◽  
Functional Programming Languages ◽  
Standard Ml ◽  
Fifth Generation ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Programming Paradigms

AbstractMany problem domains exhibit inherent parallelism, and parallel systems which capture and exploit this can be used to look for efficient solutions to AI problems. Functional programming languages are expected to be efficiently realisable on fifth generation hardware. A rational reconstruction of AI programming paradigms is used to investigate the programmability and performance of functional languages in this particular area.Three languages—Standard ML, Hope+ and Miranda—are used in the rational reconstruction, each language being used to implement three applications. Results indicate that functional programming languages have become much more useable in recent years, and have the potential to become useful tools in AI problem solving. A brief annotated bibliography of texts which covers the introduction to, theory and implementation issues of, functional programming languages, is included.

A Separate Compilation Extension to Standard ML (Revised and Expanded)

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Swasey ◽  
VII Murphy ◽  
Crary Tom ◽  
Harper Karl ◽  
Robert
Keyword(s):  
Separate Compilation ◽  
Standard Ml

Type-safe pattern combinators

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
MORTEN RHIGER
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Pattern Matching ◽  
Type Systems ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Standard Ml

AbstractMacros still haven't made their way into typed higher-order programming languages such as Haskell and Standard ML. Therefore, to extend the expressiveness of Haskell or Standard ML, one must express new linguistic features in terms of functions that fit within the static type systems of these languages. This is particularly challenging when introducing features that span across multiple types and that bind variables. We address this challenge by developing, in a step by step manner, mechanisms for encoding patterns and pattern matching in Haskell in a type-safe way.

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