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A record calculus with principal types

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Constraints in Computational Logics (CCL 1994)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 845))

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Abstract

Record calculi and their type disciplines are of great interest because they can be the basis for modelling object-oriented languages. We present a record calculus that has neither concatenation nor adjunction but is still sufficient for object-oriented languages with top-level classes. The type discipline features extensible record types and recursive types. For the formalization of the type inference algorithm and for the proofs showing its correctness, we use order-sorted logic. The order-sorted formalization is able to incorporate the constraints upon variables occurring in extensible record types. Previous approaches either lacked the principal type property or had to resort to adapting the types to the algorithm. The simplicity of our record calculus gives us principal types without having to make the types more complicated.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universität des Saarlandes, D-66041, Saarbrücken

    Andreas V. Hense

  2. Universität des Saarlandes and DFKI, Stuhlsatzenhausweg 3, D-66041, Saarbrücken

    Gert Smolka

Authors
  1. Andreas V. Hense
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  2. Gert Smolka
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Editor information

Jean-Pierre Jouannaud

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© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Hense, A.V., Smolka, G. (1994). A record calculus with principal types. In: Jouannaud, JP. (eds) Constraints in Computational Logics. CCL 1994. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 845. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0016856

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0016856

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-58403-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48699-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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