Lightweight linear types in system f°

ABSTRACT

We present System F°, an extension of System F that uses kinds to distinguish between linear and unrestricted types, simplifying the use of linearity for general-purpose programming. We demonstrate through examples how System F° can elegantly express many useful protocols, and we prove that any protocol representable as a DFA can be encoded as an F° type. We supply mechanized proofs of System F°'s soundness and parametricity properties, along with a nonstandard operational semantics that formalizes common intuitions about linearity and aids in reasoning about protocols.

We compare System F° to other linear systems, noting that the simplicity of our kind-based approach leads to a more explicit account of what linearity is meant to capture, allowing otherwise-conflicting interpretations of linearity (in particular, restrictions on aliasing versus restrictions on resource usage) to coexist peacefully. We also discuss extensions to System F^o aimed at making the core language more practical, including the additive fragment of linear logic, algebraic datatypes, and recursion.

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Index Terms

• Software and its engineering

  • Software notations and tools

    • General programming languages

      • Language features