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A theory of typed hygienic macros

Posted on:2011-06-05Degree:Ph.DType:Dissertation
University:Northeastern UniversityCandidate:Herman, DavidFull Text:PDF
GTID:1444390002465985Subject:Computer Science
Abstract/Summary:
We present the lambdam-calculus, a semantics for a language of hygienic macros with a non-trivial theory. Unlike Scheme, where programs must be macro-expanded to be analyzed, our semantics admits reasoning about programs as they appear to programmers. Our contributions include a semantics of hygienic macro expansion, a formal definition of alpha-equivalence that is independent of expansion, and a proof that expansion preserves alpha-equivalence. The key technical component of our language is a type system similar to Culpepper and Felleisen's "shape types," but with the novel contribution of binding signature types, which specify the bindings and scope of a macro's arguments.
Keywords/Search Tags:Hygienic
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