Work

Do Mutable Variables Have Reference Types?

Year: 2022

Type: preprint

Abstract: Implicit heterogeneous metaprogramming (a.k.a. offshoring) is an attractive approach for generating C with some correctness guarantees: generate OCaml code, where the correctness guarantees are easier to establish, and then map that code to C. The key idea is that simple imperative OCaml code looks like a non-standard notation for C. Regretfully, it is false, when it comes to mutable variables. In the past, the approach was salvaged by imposing strong ad hoc restrictions. The present paper for the first time investigates the problem systematically and discovers general solutions needing no restrictions. In the process we explicate the subtleties of modeling mutable variables by values of reference types and arrive at an intuitively and formally clear correspondence. We also explain C assignment without resorting to L-values.

Source: arXiv (Cornell University)

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2211.04107

Author: Kiselyov, Oleg

Institution: Tohoku University

Language: English

Topic: Logic, programming, and type systems

Subfield: Software

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Awards: Session-typed programming in unreliable communication environment, G1205132193, Tagless-final DSL embedding: how to keep extending the language and be sure it will still work, Perfect Stream Fusion for Information Flow Processing, Staged Computing based on Advanced Type Systems

OpenAlex ID: W4308670857

Cites: 3

Cited by:

Related to: 9