functional programming languages and computer architecture
Synopsis "functional programming languages and computer architecture"
this book offers a comprehensive view of the best and the latest work in functional programming. it is the proceedings of a major international conference and contains 30 papers selected from 126 submitted. a number of themes emerge. one is a growing interest in types: powerful type systems or type checkers supporting overloading, coercion, dynamic types, and incremental inference; linear types to optimize storage, and polymorphic types to optimize semantic analysis. the hot topic of partial evaluation is well represented: techniques for higher-order binding-time analysis, assuring termination of partial evaluation, and improving the residual programs a partial evaluator generates. the thorny problem of manipulating state in functional languages is addressed: one paper even argues that parallel programs with side-effects can be more declarative than purely functional ones. theoretical work covers a new model of types based on projections, parametricity, a connection between strictness analysis and logic, and a discussion of efficient implementations of the lambda-calculus. the connection with computer architecture and a variety of other topics are also addressed.