Expressive Synchronization Types for Inheritance in the Join Calculus

In prior work, Fournet et al. proposed an extension of the join calculus with class-based inheritance, aiming to provide a precise semantics for concurrent objects. However, as we show here, their system suffers from several limitations, which make it inadequate to form the basis of a practical implementation. In this paper, we redesign the static semantics for inheritance in the join calculus, equipping class types with more precise information. Compared to previous work, the new type system is more powerful, more expressive and simpler. Additionally, one runtime check of the old system is suppressed in the new design. We also prove the soundness of the new system, and have implemented type inference

Expressive Synchronization Types for Inheritance in the Join Calculus

In prior work, Fournet et al. proposed an extension of the join calculus with class-based inheritance, aiming to provide a precise semantics for concurrent objects. However, as we show here, their system suffers from several limitations, which make it inadequate to form the basis of a practical implementation. In this paper, we redesign the static semantics for inheritance in the join calculus, equipping class types with more precise information. Compared to previous work, the new type system is more powerful, more expressive and simpler. Additionally, one runtime check of the old system is suppressed in the new design. We also prove the soundness of the new system, and have implemented type inference

Algebraic Pattern Matching in Join Calculus

We propose an extension of the join calculus with pattern matching on algebraic data types. Our initial motivation is twofold: to provide an intuitive semantics of the interaction between concurrency and pattern matching; to define a practical compilation scheme from extended join definitions into ordinary ones plus ML pattern matching. To assess the correctness of our compilation scheme, we develop a theory of the applied join calculus, a calculus with value passing and value matching. We implement this calculus as an extension of the current JoCaml system

A theory of distributed aspects

International audienceOver the last five years, several systems have been proposed to take distribution into account in Aspect-Oriented Programming. While they appeared to be fruitful to develop or improve distributed component infrastructures or application servers, those systems are not underpinned with a formal semantics and so do not permit to establish properties on the code to be executed. This paper introduces the aspect join calculus -- an aspect-oriented and distributed language based on the join calculus, a member of the pi-calculus family of process calculi suitable as a programming language. It provides a first formal theory of distributed AOP as well as a base language in which many features of previous distributed AOP systems can be formalized. The semantics of the aspect join calculus is given by a (chemical) operational semantics and a type system is developed to ensure properties satisfied by aspects during the execution of a process. We also give a translation of the aspect join calculus into the core join calculus. The translation is proved to be correct by a bisimilarity argument. In this way, we provide a well-defined version of a weaving algorithm which constitutes the main step towards an implementation of the aspect join calculus directly in JoCaml. We conclude this paper by showing that despite its minimal definition, the aspect join calculus is a convenient language in which existing distributed AOP languages can be formalized. Indeed, many features (such as remote pointcut, distributed advice, migration of aspects, asynchronous and synchronous aspects, re-routing of messages and distributed control flow) can be defined in this simple language

A Type Checking Algorithm for Concurrent Object Protocols

Concurrent objects can be accessed and possibly modified concurrently by several running processes. It is notoriously difficult to make sure that such objects are consistent with – and are used according to – their intended protocol. In this paper we detail a type checking algorithm for concurrent objects protocols that provides automated support for this verification task. We model concurrent objects in the Objective Join Calculus and specify protocols using terms of a Commutative Kleene Algebra. The presented results are an essential first step towards the application of this static analysis technique to real-world programs

Deadlock-Free Typestate-Oriented Programming

Context. TypeState-Oriented Programming (TSOP) is a paradigm intended to help developers in the implementation and use of mutable objects whose public interface depends on their private state. Under this paradigm, well-typed programs are guaranteed to conform with the protocol of the objects they use. Inquiry. Previous works have investigated TSOP for both sequential and concurrent objects. However, an important difference between the two settings still remains. In a sequential setting, a well-typed program either progresses indefinitely or terminates eventually. In a concurrent setting, protocol conformance is no longer enough to avoid deadlocks, a situation in which the execution of the program halts because two or more objects are involved in mutual dependencies that prevent any further progress. Approach. In this work, we put forward a refinement of TSOP for concurrent objects guaranteeing that well-typed programs not only conform with the protocol of the objects they use, but are also deadlock free. The key ingredients of the type system are behavioral types, used to specify and enforce object protocols, and dependency relations, used to represent abstract descriptions of the dependencies between objects and detect circularities that might cause deadlocks. Knowledge. The proposed approach stands out for two features. First, the approach is fully compositional and therefore scalable: the objects of a large program can be type checked in isolation; deadlock freedom of an object composition solely depends on the types of the objects being composed; any modification/refactoring of an object that does not affect its public interface does not affect other objects either. Second, we provide the first deadlock analysis technique for join patterns, a high-level concurrency abstraction with which programmers can express complex synchronizations in a succinct and declarative form. Grounding. We detail the proposed typing discipline for a core programming language blending concurrent objects, asynchronous message passing and join patterns. We prove that the type system is sound and give non-trivial examples of programs that can be successfully analyzed. A Haskell implementation of the type system that demonstrates the feasibility of the approach is publicly available. Importance. The static analysis technique described in this work can be used to certify programs written in a core language for concurrent TSOP with proven correctness guarantees. This is an essential first step towards the integration and application of the technique in a real-world developer toolchain, making programming of such systems more productive and less frustrating

Advanced typing for asset-aware programming languages

openLa rilevazione di errori nei linguaggi di programmazione è sempre stata importante nel ridurre la presenza di bug e vulnerabilità del software e lo sviluppo di strumenti che aiutino i programmatori in tal senso sono cruciali per le aziende del settore. Nei programmi è possibile riscontrare diverse tipologie di errori che possono causare comportamenti inaspettati da parte del software o addirittura al crash. Fortunatamente, alcuni di questi errori possono essere individuati usando sistemi di tipi e compilatori. Tuttavia, i moderni compilatori potrebbero non essere più abbastanza: infatti, lo spettro di possibili errori introdotti dai programmatori si è molto ampliato insieme alla complessità dei sistemi informatici odierni, come ad esempio le blockchain. I linguaggi per questi ambienti dovrebbero considerare una nuova categoria di errori correlata agli asset: infatti, in questi casi la loro duplicazione, creazione o perdita arbitraria dovrebbe essere evitata. Queste tipologie di errori sono strettamente correlati al concetto di stato di un oggetto, il quale è un’istanza di uno smart contract. In questa tesi, vengono discussi due linguaggi di programmazione typestate-oriented progettati per lo sviluppo di smart contracts, Stipula e Obsidian, vengono messi a confronto in termini di espressività e proprietà. In questa analisi, si può notare che Stipula adotta un approccio più safe e flessibile di Obsidian nella scrittura di legal contracts, grazie alla disponibilità di determinate primitive di linguaggio. Queste funzionalità permettono una realizzazione più semplice e comprensibile dei contratti e costringe il programmatore a un approccio più safe nello sviluppo. D’altro canto, Stipula non possiede altre funzionalità, come tipi user-defined e strutture dati, tipiche dei linguaggi di programmazione a oggetti: in particolare, non supporta un sistema di tipi completo e che permetta di assicurare proprietà di safety per gli asset. Successivamente, viene fornita e discussa una realizzazione in Obsidian delle currencies e dei tokens usati in Stipula allo scopo di trovare un modo di aggiungere in questo nuovo linguaggio un sistema di ownership, il quale potrebbe aiutare nella rilevazione di errori per riferimenti ad asset. Vengono, dunque, fornite le dimostrazioni che gli statement presi in considerazione sono ben tipati: gli strumenti teorici usati nelle dimostrazioni forniscono effettivamente delle indicazioni su come l’ownership dovrebbe funzionare in Stipula. Questa tesi si concentra sulla ricerca di funzionalità e pratiche per migliorare l’espressività dei linguaggi typestate-oriented. Obsidian è un linguaggio staticamente tipato e typestate-oriented con una particolare attenzione alla safety, alla security e all’usabilità. Queste caratteristiche fanno parte anche dei principali obiettivi di Stipula, un nuovo linguagggio typestate-oriented per i legal contracts. L’inserimento di tali funzionalità in Stipula potrebbe essere un buon modo per migliorarne le proprietà di safety e l’esperienza d’uso del programmatore.Error detection in programming languages has always been important in reducing bugs and vulnerabilities in programs and tools that help programmers in this task are crucial for the industry. Several kinds of error may occur in programs that can cause unexpected behaviours and lead to crashes. Fortunately, some of them can be detected using type systems and compilers. However, modern compilers may not be enough anymore: in fact, the range of mistakes that programmers may introduce is widely spread with the increasing complexity of today’s systems, such as blockchains. Languages for these environments should consider new classes of errors related to assets: in fact, in this context arbitrary duplication, creation or loss of assets should be avoided. These new kinds of error are strictly related to the concept of the state of objects, which are in blockchains smart contract instances. In this thesis, we discuss two typestated-oriented programming languages designed for smart contracts development, Stipula and Obsidian, and compare their expressiveness and main properties. In this analysis, we notice that Stipula adopts a safer and more flexible approach than Obsidian in legal contract writing, due to the primitives available for programmers. These features enable a simpler and more readable implementation of contracts and enforce a safer approach to development. On the other hand, Stipula lacks typical functionalities, such as user-defined data and data structures, that other object-oriented programming languages have: in particular, it does not support a full-fledged type system that ensures safety properties on asset operation. Then, an Obsidian implementation for currencies and tokens used in Stipula is provided and discussed in order to find hints to add in this new language ownership, which would help in error detection for asset references. Proofs that they are well-typed are provided: the tools used in these demonstrations give us some hints, especially on how ownership should work in Stipula statements. This thesis focused on the search for features and practises to improve the expressiveness of typestate-oriented programming languages. Obsidian is a statically-typed and typestate-oriented with careful attention to safety, security and usability. These features fall within the main goals of Stipula, a newborn typestate-oriented language for legal contracts. The insertion of such features in Stipula may be a good way to improve its safety and users’ experience

Tipski sistemi za kontrolu memorije i prava pristupa

Three issues will be elaborated and disussed in the proposed thesis. The first is administration and control of data access rights in networks with XML data, with emphasis on data security. The second is the administration and control of access rights to data in computer networks with RDF data, with emphasis on data privacy. The third is prevention of errors and memory leaks, as well as communication errors, generated by programs written in Sing # language in the presence of exceptions. For all three issues, there will be presented formal models with corresponding type systems and showed the absence of undesired behavior i.e. errors in networks or programs.У тези су разматрана три проблема. Први је администрација и контрола права приступа података у рачунарској мрежи са XML подацима, са нагласком на безбедости посматраних података. Други је администрација и котрола права приступа подацима у рачунарској мрежи са RDF подацима, са нагласком на приватности посматраних података. Трећи је превенција грешака и цурења меморије, као и грешака у комуникацији генерисаним програмима написаних на језику Sing# у којима су присутни изузеци. За сва три проблема биће предложени формални модели и одговарајући типски системи помоћу којих се показује одсуство неповољних понашања тј. грешака у мрежама односно програмима.U tezi su razmatrana tri problema. Prvi je administracija i kontrola prava pristupa podataka u računarskoj mreži sa XML podacima, sa naglaskom na bezbedosti posmatranih podataka. Drugi je administracija i kotrola prava pristupa podacima u računarskoj mreži sa RDF podacima, sa naglaskom na privatnosti posmatranih podataka. Treći je prevencija grešaka i curenja memorije, kao i grešaka u komunikaciji generisanim programima napisanih na jeziku Sing# u kojima su prisutni izuzeci. Za sva tri problema biće predloženi formalni modeli i odgovarajući tipski sistemi pomoću kojih se pokazuje odsustvo nepovoljnih ponašanja tj. grešaka u mrežama odnosno programima