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README.md |
Functional programming and type systems (2017-2018)
Teachers
- Functional Programming: Under the Hood (12h30, François Pottier)
- Metatheory of Typed Programming Languages (12h30, Didier Rémy, head)
- Advanced Aspects of Type Systems (12h30, Yann Régis Gianas)
- Dependently-typed Functional Programming (12h30, Pierre-Evariste Dagand)
Aims
This course presents the principles and formalisms that underlie many of today's typed functional programming languages.
The course is made up of four parts and can be split after the first two parts.
In the first part, we discuss the operational semantics of functional programming languages, and we present several classic program transformations, including closure conversion, defunctionalization, and the transformation into continuation-passing style (CPS). These program transformations are interesting from two points of view. First, they are useful programming techniques, which can help write or understand programs. Second, they are used in the compilation of functional programming languages, so they help understand what happens when the machine executes a program. We use operational semantics to prove that the meaning of programs is preserved by these transformations. Finally, we suggest how these definitions and theorems can be expressed in a form that a machine can check. That is, although Coq is not a prerequisite of the course, we will at least try to read and understand Coq definitions and statements.
In the second part, we focus on the meta-theoretical properties of type systems. We study parametric polymorphism (as in System F and ML), data types and type abstraction. We show syntactic type soundness (via progress and subject reduction) by reasoning by induction on typing derivations. We also show how to obtain semantic properties via logical relations by reasoning by induction on the structure of types. We also introduce subtyping and row polymorphism and illustrate typing problems induced by side effects (references) and the need for the value restriction.
The third part of the course describes more advanced features of type systems: exceptions and effect handlers, including their typechecking and static analyses: type inference, data flow and control flow analyses. Finally, it introduces dependent types and refinement types.
The last part focuses on the use of dependent types for programming: effectful programming with monads and algebraic effects; tagless interpreters; programming with total functions; generic programming. We also show the limits of dependently-typed functional programming.
Approximate syllabus
Functional Programming: Under the Hood
- (22/09/2017) From a small-step operational semantics...
- (29/09/2017) ... to an efficient interpreter. (2 weeks.)
- (06/10/2017) Compiling away first-class functions: closure conversion, defunctionalization.
- (13/10/2017) Compiling away the call stack: the CPS transformation.
- (20/10/2017) Equational reasoning and program optimizations.
Metatheory of Typed Programming Languages
- (15/09/2017) Metatheory of System F. (Type soundness. Erasure.)
- (27/10/2017) ADTs, existential types, GADTs.
- (03/11/2017) Logical relations.
- (10/11/2017) Subtyping. Rows.
- (17/11/2017) References, Value restriction, Side effects.
Advanced Aspects of Type Systems
- Exceptions and effect handlers. (Compiled away via CPS.)
- Typechecking exceptions and handlers.
- Type inference. (ML. Bidirectional. Elaboration.)
- Data/control flow analysis.
- Functional correctness. Intro to dependent/refinement types.
Dependently-typed Functional Programming
- Effectful functional programming.
- Dependent functional programming.
- Total functional programming.
- Generic functional programming.
- Open problems in dependent functional programming.
Evaluation of the course
Two written exams (a partial and a final exam) and one programming project or several programming exercises are used to evaluate the students that follow the full course. Only the partial exam will count to grade students who split the course.
Although the course has changed, you may still have a look at Previous exams available with solutions:
- mid-term exam 2016-2017: (Record concatenation
- mid-term exam 2015-2016: (Type containment
- final exam 2014-2015: [(subject](http://gallium.inria.fr/~remy/mpri/exams/final-2014-2015.pdf {Copatterns})
- mid-term exam 2014-2015: (Information flow
- final exam 2013-2014: (Operation on records
- mid-term exam 2013-2014: (Typechecking Effects
- final exam 2012-2013: (Refinement types
- mid-term exam 2012-2013: (Variations on ML
- final exam 2011-2012: (Intersection types
- mid-term exam 2011-2012: (Parametricity
- final exam 2010-2011: (Compiling a language with subtyping
- mid-term exam 2010-2011: (Compilation of polymorphic records
Recommended software
OCaml 4.0x and Coq 8.5.
Once you have installed opam, use the following commands:
opam init --comp=4.05 # for instance
opam repo add coq-released https://coq.inria.fr/opam/released
opam update
opam install -j4 -v coq.8.5.3
Bibliography
Types and Programming Languages, Benjamin C. Pierce, MIT Press, 2002.
Advanced Topics in Types and Programming Languages, Edited by Benjamin C. Pierce, MIT Press, 2005.