Work

How to make ad-hoc polymorphism less ad hoc

Year: 1989

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: This paper presents type classes, a new approach to ad-hoc polymorphism. Type classes permit overloading of arithmetic operators such as multiplication, and generalise the “eqtype variables” of Standard ML. Type classes extend the Hindley/Milner polymorphic type system, and provide a new approach to issues that arise in object-oriented programming, bounded type quantification, and abstract data types. This paper provides an informal introduction to type classes, and defines them formally by means of type inference rules.

Source: ACM SIGPLAN-SIGACT Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages (POPL)

DOI: 10.1145/75277.75283

Authors: P. Wadler, S. Blott

Institution: University of Glasgow

Language: English

Topic: Logic, programming, and type systems

Subfield: Software

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

OpenAlex ID: W2059895047

FWCI: 10.26

Cites: 20

Cited by: 818

Related to: 10