research-article

Settable and non-interfering signal functions for FRP: how a first-order switch is more than enough

Authors:

Daniel Winograd-Cort,

Paul HudakAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 49, Issue 9

Pages 213 - 225

https://doi.org/10.1145/2692915.2628140

Published: 19 August 2014 Publication History

Abstract

Functional Reactive Programming (FRP) provides a method for programming continuous, reactive systems by utilizing signal functions that, abstractly, transform continuous input signals into continuous output signals. These signals may also be streams of events, and indeed, by allowing signal functions themselves to be the values carried by these events (in essence, signals of signal functions), one can conveniently make discrete changes in program behavior by "switching" into and out of these signal functions. This higher-order notion of switching is common among many FRP systems, in particular those based on arrows, such as Yampa.

Although convenient, the power of switching is often an overkill and can pose problems for certain types of program optimization (such as causal commutative arrows [14]), as it causes the structure of the program to change dynamically at run-time. Without a notion of just-in-time compilation or related idea, which itself is beset with problems, such optimizations are not possible at compile time.

This paper introduces two new ideas that obviate, in a predominance of cases, the need for switching. The first is a non-interference law for arrows with choice that allows an arrowized FRP program to dynamically alter its own structure (within statically limited bounds) as well as abandon unused streams. The other idea is a notion of a settable signal function that allows a signal function to capture its present state and later be restarted from some previous state. With these two features, canonical uses of higher-order switchers can be replaced with a suitable first-order design, thus enabling a broader range of static optimizations.

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Cited By

Bärenz M(2020)The essence of live coding: change the program, keep the state!Proceedings of the 7th ACM SIGPLAN International Workshop on Reactive and Event-Based Languages and Systems10.1145/3427763.3428312(2-14)Online publication date: 16-Nov-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3427763.3428312
Janin D(2020)A Timed IO MonadPractical Aspects of Declarative Languages10.1007/978-3-030-39197-3_9(131-147)Online publication date: 14-Jan-2020
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39197-3_9
Keating FGale MVazou NMorris J(2024)Functional Reactive Programming, RearrangedProceedings of the 17th ACM SIGPLAN International Haskell Symposium10.1145/3677999.3678278(55-67)Online publication date: 29-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677999.3678278
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Settable and non-interfering signal functions for FRP: how a first-order switch is more than enough
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. General programming languages
      1. Language features

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Published In

cover image ACM SIGPLAN Notices

ACM SIGPLAN Notices Volume 49, Issue 9

ICFP '14

September 2014

361 pages

ISSN:0362-1340

EISSN:1558-1160

DOI:10.1145/2692915

Editors:
Mark W. Bailey
Hamilton College, Clinton, NY
,
Rajeev Balasubramonian
University of Utah
,
Al Davis
University of Utah
,
Sarita Adve
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champ

Issue’s Table of Contents

ICFP '14: Proceedings of the 19th ACM SIGPLAN international conference on Functional programming
August 2014
390 pages
ISBN:9781450328739
DOI:10.1145/2628136
General Chair:
Johan Jeuring
Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
,
Program Chair:
Manuel M.T. Chakravarty
University of New South Wales, Australia

Copyright © 2014 ACM.

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 19 August 2014

Published in SIGPLAN Volume 49, Issue 9

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Cited By

Bärenz M(2020)The essence of live coding: change the program, keep the state!Proceedings of the 7th ACM SIGPLAN International Workshop on Reactive and Event-Based Languages and Systems10.1145/3427763.3428312(2-14)Online publication date: 16-Nov-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3427763.3428312
Janin D(2020)A Timed IO MonadPractical Aspects of Declarative Languages10.1007/978-3-030-39197-3_9(131-147)Online publication date: 14-Jan-2020
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39197-3_9
Keating FGale MVazou NMorris J(2024)Functional Reactive Programming, RearrangedProceedings of the 17th ACM SIGPLAN International Haskell Symposium10.1145/3677999.3678278(55-67)Online publication date: 29-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677999.3678278
Keating FGale MMcDonell TVazou N(2023)This Is Driving Me Loopy: Efficient Loops in Arrowized Functional Reactive ProgramsProceedings of the 16th ACM SIGPLAN International Haskell Symposium10.1145/3609026.3609726(3-17)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3609026.3609726
Finkbeiner BKlein FPiskac RSantolucito MEisenberg R(2019)Synthesizing functional reactive programsProceedings of the 12th ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on Haskell10.1145/3331545.3342601(162-175)Online publication date: 8-Aug-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3331545.3342601
Janin DQuick DWinograd-Cort D(2019)Screaming in the IO monad: a realtime audio processing and control experiment in HaskellProceedings of the 7th ACM SIGPLAN International Workshop on Functional Art, Music, Modeling, and Design10.1145/3331543.3342585(71-82)Online publication date: 23-Aug-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3331543.3342585
Watanabe T(2018)A Simple Context-Oriented Programming Extension to an FRP Language for Small-Scale Embedded SystemsProceedings of the 10th ACM International Workshop on Context-Oriented Programming: Advanced Modularity for Run-time Composition10.1145/3242921.3242925(23-30)Online publication date: 16-Jul-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3242921.3242925
Archipoff SJanin DJanin DSperber M(2016)Structured reactive programming with polymorphic temporal tilesProceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Functional Art, Music, Modelling, and Design10.1145/2975980.2975984(29-40)Online publication date: 10-Sep-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2975980.2975984

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