In the end, research on functional languages does little good unless
they are used
to write something other than compilers for functional languages. However,
if one
scans a typical functional programming conference or journal, one mainly
sees papers
on twists in language design, speed-ups in compiled code, clever new analyses,
or
refinements to semantic models. It much less common to see a paper that
considers
a functional language as a tool to some other practical end. We would like
to see
this change.The Journal of Functional Programming carries, and will continue
to carry, articles
on all aspects of functional programming from lambda calculus theory to
language
design to implementation. But we have specially sought, and will continue
to seek,
papers on functional programming practice and experience.Research and papers on practice and experience sometimes receive less
attention
because they are perceived as possessing less academic content. So we want
to
remind potential authors that we have published a number of papers on this
topic
in the past, and to spell out the criteria we apply to such papers.
A Functional Shell That Dynamically Combines Compiled Code