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Multi-stage programming: axiomatization and type safety

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Automata, Languages and Programming (ICALP 1998)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1443))

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Abstract

Multi-stage programming provides a new paradigm for constructing efficient solutions to complex problems. Techniques such as program generation, multi-level partial evaluation, and run-time code generation respond to the need for general purpose solutions which do not pay run-time interpretive overheads. This paper provides a foundation for the formal analysis of one such system.

We introduce a multi-stage language and present its axiomatic and reduction semantics. Our axiomatic semantics is an extension of the call-by-value λ-calculus with staging constructs. We show that staged-languages can “go Wrong” in new ways, and devise a type system that screens out such programs. Finally, we present a proof of the soundness of this type system with respect to the reduction semantics.

The research reported in this paper was supported by the USAF Air Materiel Command, contract # F19628-93-C-0069, and NSF Grant IRI-9625462.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oregon Graduate Institute, USA

    Walid Taha, Zine-El-Abidine Benaissa & Tim Sheard

Authors
  1. Walid Taha
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  2. Zine-El-Abidine Benaissa
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  3. Tim Sheard
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Editor information

Kim G. Larsen Sven Skyum Glynn Winskel

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© 1998 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Taha, W., Benaissa, ZEA., Sheard, T. (1998). Multi-stage programming: axiomatization and type safety. In: Larsen, K.G., Skyum, S., Winskel, G. (eds) Automata, Languages and Programming. ICALP 1998. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1443. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0055113

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0055113

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-64781-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-68681-1

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