PolyAML: A polymorphic aspect-oriented functional programming language

Daniel S. Dantas, David Walker, Geoffrey Washburn, Stephanie Weirich

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper defines PolyAML, a typed functional, aspect-oriented programming language. The main contribution of PolyAML is the seamless integration of polymorphism, run-time type analysis and aspect-oriented programming language features. In particular, PolyAML allows programmers to define type-safe polymorphic advice using pointcuts constructed from a collection of polymorphic join points. PolyAML also comes equipped with a type inference algorithm that conservatively extends Hindley-Milner type inference. To support first-class polymorphic point-cut designators, a crucial feature for developing aspect-oriented profiling or logging libraries, the algorithm blends the conventional Hindley-Milner type inference algorithm with a simple form of local type inference. We give our language operational meaning via a type-directed translation into an expressive type-safe intermediate language. Many complexities of the source language are eliminated in this translation, leading to a modular specification of its semantics. One of the novelties of the intermediate language is the definition of polymorphic labels for marking control-flow points. These labels are organized in a tree structure such that a parent in the tree serves as a representative for all of its children. Type safety requires that the type of each child is less polymorphic than its parent type. Similarly, when a set of labels is assembled as a pointcut, the type of each label is an instance of the type of the pointcut.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)306-319
Number of pages14
JournalSIGPLAN Notices (ACM Special Interest Group on Programming Languages)
Volume40
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - 2005

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Software
  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

Keywords

  • Ad-hoc polymorphism
  • Aspects-oriented programming
  • Functional programming
  • Type inference
  • Type systems

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