100 research outputs found
Programming errors in traversal programs over structured data
Traversal strategies \'a la Stratego (also \'a la Strafunski and 'Scrap Your
Boilerplate') provide an exceptionally versatile and uniform means of querying
and transforming deeply nested and heterogeneously structured data including
terms in functional programming and rewriting, objects in OO programming, and
XML documents in XML programming. However, the resulting traversal programs are
prone to programming errors. We are specifically concerned with errors that go
beyond conservative type errors; examples we examine include divergent
traversals, prematurely terminated traversals, and traversals with dead code.
Based on an inventory of possible programming errors we explore options of
static typing and static analysis so that some categories of errors can be
avoided. This exploration generates suggestions for improvements to strategy
libraries as well as their underlying programming languages. Haskell is used
for illustrations and specifications with sufficient explanations to make the
presentation comprehensible to the non-specialist. The overall ideas are
language-agnostic and they are summarized accordingly
The design and implementation of a relational programming system.
The declarative class of computer languages consists mainly of two paradigms
- the logic and the functional. Much research has been devoted in recent years
to the integration of the two with the aim of securing the advantages of both
without retaining their disadvantages. To date this research has, arguably, been
less fruitful than initially hoped. A large number of composite functional/logical
languages have been proposed but have generally been marred by the lack of a
firm, cohesive, mathematical basis. More recently new declarative paradigms,
equational and constraint languages, have been advocated. These however do
not fully encompass those features we perceive as being central to functional and
logic languages. The crucial functional features are higher-order definitions, static
polymorphic typing, applicative expressions and laziness. The crucial logic features are ability to reason about both functional and non-functional relationships
and to handle computations involving search.
This thesis advocates a new declarative paradigm which lies midway between
functional and logic languages - the so-called relational paradigm. In a relationallanguage program and data alike are denoted by relations. All expressions
are relations constructed from simpler expressions using operators which form
a relational algebra. The impetus for use of relations in a declarative language
comes from observations concerning their connection to functional and logic programming. Relations are mathematically more general than functions modelling
non-functional as well as functional relationships. They also form the basis of
many logic languages, for example, Prolog.
This thesis proposes a new relational language based entirely on binary relations, named Drusilla. We demonstrate the functional and logic aspects of
Drusilla. It retains the higher-order objects and polymorphism found in modern functional languages but handles non-determinism and models relationships
between objects in the manner of a logic language with notion of algorithm being composed of logic and control elements. Different programming styles -
functional, logic and relational- are illustrated.
However, such expressive power does not come for free; it has associated with
it a high cost of implementation. Two main techniques are used in the necessarily
complex language interpreter. A type inference system checks programs to ensure
they are meaningful and simultaneously performs automatic representation selection for relations. A symbolic manipulation system transforms programs to improve.
efficiency of expressions and to increase the number of possible representations
for relations while preserving program meaning
Proof-Theoretic Methods for Analysis of Functional Programs
We investigate how, in a natural deduction setting, we can specify concisely a wide variety of tasks that manipulate programs as data objects. This study will provide us with a better understanding of various kinds of manipulations of programs and also an operational understanding of numerous features and properties of a rich functional programming language. We present a technique, inspired by structural operational semantics and natural semantics, for specifying properties of, or operations on, programs. Specifications of this sort are presented as sets of inference rules and are encoded as clauses in a higher-order, intuitionistic meta-logic. Program properties are then proved by constructing proofs in this meta-logic. We argue the following points regarding these specifications and their proofs: (i) the specifications are clear and concise and they provide intuitive descriptions of the properties being described; (ii) a wide variety of program analysis tools can be specified in a single unified framework, and thus we can investigate and understand the relationship between various tools; (iii) proof theory provides a well-established and formal setting in which to examine meta-theoretic properties of these specifications; and (iv) the meta-logic we use can be implemented naturally in an extended logic programming language and thus we can produce experimental implementations of the specifications. We expect that our efforts will provide new perspectives and insights for many program manipulation tasks
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