Generic Reduction-Based Interpreters (Extended Version)

Casper Bach

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arXiv · 2508.11297

Generic Reduction-Based Interpreters (Extended Version)

Casper Bach

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Abstract

Reduction-based interpreters are traditionally defined in terms of a one-step reduction function which systematically decomposes a term into a potential redex and context, contracts the redex, and recomposes it to construct the new term to be further reduced. While implementing such interpreters follows a systematic recipe, they often require interpreter engineers to write a substantial amount of code -- much of it boilerplate. In this paper, we apply well-known techniques from generic programming to reduce boilerplate code in reduction-based interpreters.

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Casper Bach. 2025-08-15. Generic Reduction-Based Interpreters (Extended Version). https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.11297

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