A reduction semantics for call-by-value mixin modules

Tom Hirschowitz (1) , Xavier Leroy (1) , Joe B. Wells

1 CRISTAL - Typed programming, modularity and compilation

Module systems are important for software engineering: they facilitate code reuse without compromising the correctness of programs. However, they still lack some flexibility: first, they do not allow mutually recursive definitions to span module boundaries ; second, definitions inside modules are bound early, and cannot be overridden later, as opposed to inheritance and overriding in class-based object-oriented languages, which follow the late binding semantics. This paper examines an alternative, hybrid idea of modularization concept, called mixin modules. We develop a language of call-by-value mixin modules with a reduction semantics, and a sound type system for it, guaranteeing that programs will run correctly.

Mots clés: MODULARITY; MIXIN MODULES; RECURSION; TYPE SYSTEMS; REDUCTION SEMANTICS

Domaines: Autre [cs.OH]

Tom Hirschowitz, Xavier Leroy, Joe B. Wells. A reduction semantics for call-by-value mixin modules. [Research Report] RR-4682, INRIA. 2002. ⟨inria-00071903⟩