Behavioral equivalence in the polymorphic pi-calculus

We investigate parametric polymorphism in message-based concurrent programming, focusing on behavioral equivalences in a typed process calculus analogous to the polymorphic lambda-calculus of Girard and Reynolds. Polymorphism constrains the power of observers by preventing them from directly manipul...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the ACM 2000-05, Vol.47 (3), p.531-584
Main Authors: Pierce, Benjamin C, Sangiorgi, Davide
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Calculus
Equivalence
Mathematical analysis
Observers
Polymorphism
Programming
Programming languages
Studies
Theory
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Summary:We investigate parametric polymorphism in message-based concurrent programming, focusing on behavioral equivalences in a typed process calculus analogous to the polymorphic lambda-calculus of Girard and Reynolds. Polymorphism constrains the power of observers by preventing them from directly manipulating data values whose types are abstract, leading to notions of equivalence much coarser than the standard untyped ones. We study the nature of these constraints through simple examples of concurrent abstract data types and develop basic theoretical machinery for establishing bisimilarity of polymorphic processes. We also observe some surprising interactions between polymorphism and aliasing, drawing examples from both the polymorphic pi-calculus and ML.
ISSN:0004-5411
1557-735X
DOI:10.1145/337244.337261