Algebraic Theories over Nominal Sets

We investigate the foundations of a theory of algebraic data types with variable binding inside classical universal algebra. In the first part, a category-theoretic study of monads over the nominal sets of Gabbay and Pitts leads us to introduce new notions of finitary based monads and uniform monads. In a second part we spell out these notions in the language of universal algebra, show how to recover the logics of Gabbay-Mathijssen and Clouston-Pitts, and apply classical results from universal algebra.Comment: 16 page

On CSP and the Algebraic Theory of Effects

We consider CSP from the point of view of the algebraic theory of effects, which classifies operations as effect constructors or effect deconstructors; it also provides a link with functional programming, being a refinement of Moggi's seminal monadic point of view. There is a natural algebraic theory of the constructors whose free algebra functor is Moggi's monad; we illustrate this by characterising free and initial algebras in terms of two versions of the stable failures model of CSP, one more general than the other. Deconstructors are dealt with as homomorphisms to (possibly non-free) algebras. One can view CSP's action and choice operators as constructors and the rest, such as concealment and concurrency, as deconstructors. Carrying this programme out results in taking deterministic external choice as constructor rather than general external choice. However, binary deconstructors, such as the CSP concurrency operator, provide unresolved difficulties. We conclude by presenting a combination of CSP with Moggi's computational {\lambda}-calculus, in which the operators, including concurrency, are polymorphic. While the paper mainly concerns CSP, it ought to be possible to carry over similar ideas to other process calculi

Scoped effects as parameterized algebraic theories

Notions of computation can be modelled by monads. Algebraic effects offer a characterization of monads in terms of algebraic operations and equational axioms, where operations are basic programming features, such as reading or updating the state, and axioms specify observably equivalent expressions. However, many useful programming features depend on additional mechanisms such as delimited scopes or dynamically allocated resources. Such mechanisms can be supported via extensions to algebraic effects including scoped effects and parameterized algebraic theories. We present a fresh perspective on scoped effects by translation into a variation of parameterized algebraic theories. The translation enables a new approach to equational reasoning for scoped effects and gives rise to an alternative characterization of monads in terms of generators and equations involving both scoped and algebraic operations. We demonstrate the power of our fresh perspective by way of equational characterizations of several known models of scoped effects

Notions of Lawvere theory

Categorical universal algebra can be developed either using Lawvere theories (single-sorted finite product theories) or using monads, and the category of Lawvere theories is equivalent to the category of finitary monads on Set. We show how this equivalence, and the basic results of universal algebra, can be generalized in three ways: replacing Set by another category, working in an enriched setting, and by working with another class of limits than finite products. An important special case involves working with sifted-colimit-preserving monads rather than filtered-colimit-preserving ones.Comment: 27 pages. v2 minor changes, final version, to appear in Applied Categorical Structure