Paper: Relational Parametricity for Computational Effects (at LICS 2007)

Authors: Rasmus E. Møgelberg Alex K. Simpson

Abstract

According to Strachey, a polymorphic program is parametric if it applies a uniform algorithm independently of the type instantiations at which it is applied. The notion of relational parametricity, introduced by Reynolds, is one possible mathematical formulation of this idea. Relational parametricity provides a powerful tool for establishing data abstraction properties, proving equivalences of datatypes, and establishing equalities of programs. Such properties have been well studied in a pure functional setting. Many programs, however, exhibit computational effects. In this paper, we develop a framework for extending the notion of relational parametricity to languages with effects.

BibTeX

  @InProceedings{MgelbergSimpson-RelationalParametri,
    author = 	 {Rasmus E. Møgelberg and Alex K. Simpson},
    title = 	 {Relational Parametricity for Computational Effects},
    booktitle =  {Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Annual IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2007)},
    year =	 {2007},
    month =	 {July}, 
    pages =      {346--355},
    location =   {Wroclaw, Poland}, 
    publisher =	 {IEEE Computer Society Press}
  }