Noam Zeilberger

The Logical Basis of Evaluation Order and Pattern-Matching Degree Type: Ph.D. in Computer Science
Advisor(s): Peter Lee, Frank Pfenning
Graduated: May 2009

Abstract:

An old and celebrated analogy says that writing programs is like proving theorems. This analogy has been productive in both directions, but in particular has demonstrated remarkable utility in driving progress in programming languages, for example leading towards a better understanding of concepts such as abstract data types and polymorphism. One of the best known instances of the analogy actually rises to the level of an isomorphism: between Gentzen's natural deduction and Church's lambda calculus. However, as has been recognized for a while, lambda calculus fails to capture some of the important features of modern programming languages. Notably, it does not have an inherent notion of evaluation order, needed to make sense of programs with side effects. Instead, the historical descendents of lambda calculus (languages like Lisp, ML, Haskell, etc.) impose evaluation order in an ad hoc way.

This thesis aims to give a fresh take on the proofs-as-programs analogy–one which better accounts for features of modern programming languages–by starting from a different logical foundation. Inspired by Andreoli's focusing proofs for linear logic, we explain how to axiomatize certain canonical forms of logical reasoning through a notion of pattern. Propositions come with an intrinsic polarity, based on whether they are defined by patterns of proof, or by patterns of refutation. Applying the analogy, we then obtain a programming language with built-in support for pattern-matching, in which evaluation order is explicitly reflected at the level of types–and hence can be controlled locally, rather than being an ad hoc, global policy decision. As we show, different forms of continuation-passing style (one of the historical tools for analyzing evaluation order) can be described in terms of different polarizations. This language provides an elegant, uniform account of both untyped and intrinsically-typed computation (incorporating ideas from infinitary proof theory), and additionally, can be provided an extrinsic type system to express and statically enforce more refined properties of programs. We conclude by using this framework to explore the theory of typing and subtyping for intersection and union types in the presence of effects, giving a simplified explanation of some of the unusual artifacts of existing systems.

Thesis Committee:
Frank Pfenning (Co-chair)
Peter Lee (Co-chair)
Robert Harper
Paul-André Mellie ( Université Paris VII)

Peter Lee, Head, Computer Science Department
Randy Bryant, Dean, School of Computer Science

Keywords:
Programming languages, proof theory, propositions-as-types, refinement types