The Cost of Skeletal Call-By-Need, Smoothly

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Abstract

Skeletal call-by-need is an optimization of call-by-need evaluation also known as “fully lazy sharing”: when the duplication of a value has to take place, it is first split into “skeleton”, which is then duplicated, and “flesh” which is instead kept shared. Here, we provide two cost analyses of skeletal call-by-need. Firstly, we provide a family of terms showing that skeletal call-by-need can be asymptotically exponentially faster than call-by-need in both time and space; it is the first such evidence, to our knowledge. Secondly, we prove that skeletal call-by-need can be implemented efficiently, that is, with bi-linear overhead. This result is obtained by providing a new smooth presentation of ideas by Shivers and Wand for the reconstruction of skeletons, which is then smoothly plugged into the study of an abstract machine following the distillation technique by Accattoli et al.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication10th International Conference on Formal Structures for Computation and Deduction, FSCD 2025
EditorsMaribel Fernandez
PublisherSchloss Dagstuhl- Leibniz-Zentrum fur Informatik GmbH, Dagstuhl Publishing
ISBN (Electronic)9783959773744
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Jul 2025
Event10th International Conference on Formal Structures for Computation and Deduction, FSCD 2025 - Birmingham, United Kingdom
Duration: 14 Jul 202520 Jul 2025

Publication series

NameLeibniz International Proceedings in Informatics, LIPIcs
Volume337
ISSN (Print)1868-8969

Conference

Conference10th International Conference on Formal Structures for Computation and Deduction, FSCD 2025
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityBirmingham
Period14/07/2520/07/25

Keywords

  • abstract machines
  • call-by-need
  • cost models
  • λ-calculus

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