Abstract
In this paper we figure out the future of intersection types in Java developments, based both on the primary meaning of the intersection type constructor and on the present approach in Java. In our vision, the current use of intersection types will be extended in two directions. Firstly, intersections will be allowed to appear as types of fields, types of formal parameters and return values of methods, therefore they will be significantly used as target types for \(\lambda \)-expressions anywhere. Secondly, the notion of functional interface will be extended to any intersection of interfaces, including also several abstract methods with different signatures. Thus a single target type will be able to express multiple, possibly unrelated, properties of one \(\lambda \)-expression.
We formalise our proposal through a minimal Java core extended with these novel features and we prove the type safety property.
Mariangiola Dezani-Ciancaglini—Partially supported by EU H2020-644235 Rephrase project, EU H2020-644298 HyVar project, IC1402 ARVI and Ateneo/CSP project RunVar.
Paola Giannini—This original research has the financial support of the Università del Piemonte Orientale.
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We would like to thank the anonymous referees for their helpful comments.
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Dezani-Ciancaglini, M., Giannini, P., Venneri, B. (2019). Intersection Types in Java: Back to the Future. In: Margaria, T., Graf, S., Larsen, K. (eds) Models, Mindsets, Meta: The What, the How, and the Why Not?. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11200. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22348-9_6
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