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International Conference on Mathematics of Program Construction

MPC 2002: Mathematics of Program Construction pp 68–93Cite as

Fine Control of Demand in Haskell

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2386))

Abstract

Functional languages have the λ-calculus at their core, but then depart from this firm foundation by including features that alter their default evaluation order. The resulting mixed evaluation—partly lazy and partly strict—complicates the formal semantics of these languages. The functional language Haskell is such a language, with features such as pattern-matching, case expressions with guards, etc., introducing a modicum of strictness into the otherwise lazy language. But just how does Haskell differ from the lazy λ-calculus? We answer this question by introducing a calculational semantics for Haskell that exposes the interaction of its strict features with its default laziness.

The work described here was supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant CDA-9703218 and the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Software Research Center OGI School of Science & Engineering, Oregon Health & Science University, USA

    William Harrison, Tim Sheard & James Hook

Authors
  1. William Harrison
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  2. Tim Sheard
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  3. James Hook
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Computing Laboratory, University of Kent at Canterbury, CT2 7NF, Canterbury, Kent, UK

    Eerke A. Boiten

  2. Institut für Informatik, Universität Augsburg, Universitätsstr. 14, 86135, Augsburg, Germany

    Bernhard Möller

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© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Harrison, W., Sheard, T., Hook, J. (2002). Fine Control of Demand in Haskell. In: Boiten, E.A., Möller, B. (eds) Mathematics of Program Construction. MPC 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2386. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45442-X_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45442-X_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-43857-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45442-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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