On Reversible Combinatory Logic

Abstract

The λ-calculus is destructive: its main computational mechanism – beta reduction – destroys the redex and makes it thus impossible to replay the computational steps. Recently, reversible computational models have been studied mainly in the context of quantum computation, as (without measurements) quantum physics is inherently reversible. However, reversibility also changes fundamentally the semantical framework in which classical computation has to be investigated. We describe an implementation of classical combinatory logic into a reversible calculus for which we present an algebraic model based on a generalisation of the notion of group.