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Abstract syntax for variable binders: An overview

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

A large variety of computing systems, such as compilers, interpreters, static analyzers, and theorem provers, need to manipulate syntactic objects like programs, types, formulas, and proofs. A common characteristic of these syntactic objects is that they contain variable binders, such as quantifiers, formal parameters, and blocks. It is a common observation that representing such binders using only first-order expressions is problematic since the notions of bound variable names, free and bound occurrences, equality up to alpha-conversion, substitution, etc., are not addressed naturally by the structure of first-order terms (labeled trees). This overview describes a higher-level and more declarative approach to representing syntax within such computational systems. In particular, we shall focus on a representation of syntax called higher-order abstract syntax and on a more primitive version of that representation called λ-tree syntax.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationComputational Logic - CL 2000 - 1st International Conference, Proceedings
EditorsJohn Lloyd, Veronica Dahl, Ulrich Furbach, Manfred Kerber, Kung-Kiu Lau, Catuscia Palamidessi, Luís Moniz Pereira, Yehoshua Sagiv, Peter J. Stuckey
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages239-253
Number of pages15
ISBN (Electronic)3540677976, 9783540677970
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2000
Externally publishedYes
Event1st International Conference on Computational Logic, CL 2000 - London, United Kingdom
Duration: 24 Jul 200028 Jul 2000

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (Subseries of Lecture Notes in Computer Science)
Volume1861
ISSN (Print)0302-9743

Conference

Conference1st International Conference on Computational Logic, CL 2000
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityLondon
Period24/07/0028/07/00

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