Functional Programming Languages and Computer Architecture: 5th ACM Conference. Cambridge, MA, USA, August 26-30, 1991 Proceedings

This book offers a comprehensive view of the best and thelatest work in functional programming. It is the proceedingsof a major international conference and contains 30 papersselected from 126 submitted. A number of themes emerge. Oneis a growing interest in types: powerful type systems ortype checkers supporting overloading, coercion, dynamictypes, and incremental inference; linear types to optimizestorage, and polymorphic types to optimize semanticanalysis. The hot topic of partial evaluation is wellrepresented: techniques for higher-order binding-timeanalysis, assuring termination of partial evaluation, andimproving the residual programs a partial evaluatorgenerates. The thorny problem of manipulating state infunctional languages is addressed: one paper even arguesthat parallel programs with side-effects can be "moredeclarative" than purely functional ones. Theoretical workcovers a new model of types based on projections,parametricity, a connection between strictness analysis andlogic, and a discussion of efficient implementations of thelambda-calculus. The connection with computer architectureand a variety of other topics are also addressed.