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Beniamino Accattoli

Publications and source records attributed to Beniamino Accattoli.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2022

Call-by-Value Solvability and Multi Types

This paper provides a characterization of call-by-value solvability using call-by-value multi types. Our work is based on Accattoli and Paolini's characterization of call-by-value solvable terms as those terminating with respect to the solving strategy of the value substitution calculus, a refinement of Plotkin's call-by-value $λ$-calculus. Here we show that the solving strategy terminates on a term $t$ if and only if $t$ is typable in a certain way in the multi type system induced by Ehrhard's call-by-value relational semantics. Moreover, we show how to extract from the type system exact bounds on the length of the solving evaluation and on the size of its normal form, adapting de Carvalho's technique for call-by-name.

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arXiv2021

Strong Call-by-Value is Reasonable, Implosively

Whether the number of beta-steps in the lambda-calculus can be taken as a reasonable time cost model (that is, polynomially related to the one of Turing machines) is a delicate problem, which depends on the notion of evaluation strategy. Since the nineties, it is known that weak (that is, out of abstractions) call-by-value evaluation is a reasonable strategy while Lévy's optimal parallel strategy, which is strong (that is, it reduces everywhere), is not. The strong case turned out to be subtler than the weak one. In 2014 Accattoli and Dal Lago have shown that strong call-by-name is reasonable, by introducing a new form of useful sharing and, later, an abstract machine with an overhead quadratic in the number of beta-steps. Here we show that also strong call-by-value evaluation is reasonable for time, via a new abstract machine realizing useful sharing and having a linear overhead. Moreover, our machine uses a new mix of sharing techniques, adding on top of useful sharing a form of implosive sharing, which on some terms brings an exponential speed-up. We give examples of families that the machine executes in time logarithmic in the number of beta-steps.

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arXiv2021

Useful Open Call-by-Need

This paper studies useful sharing, which is a sophisticated optimization for lambda-calculi, in the context of call-by-need evaluation in presence of open terms. Useful sharing turns out to be harder in call-by-need than in call-by-name or call-by-value, because call-by-need evaluates inside environments, making it harder to specify when a substitution step is useful. We isolate the key involved concepts and prove the correctness and the completeness of useful sharing in this setting.

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arXiv2021

The Space of Interaction (long version)

The space complexity of functional programs is not well understood. In particular, traditional implementation techniques are tailored to time efficiency, and space efficiency induces time inefficiencies, as it prefers re-computing to saving. Girard's geometry of interaction underlies an alternative approach based on the interaction abstract machine (IAM), claimed as space efficient in the literature. It has also been conjectured to provide a reasonable notion of space for the lambda-calculus, but such an important result seems to be elusive. In this paper we introduce a new intersection type system precisely measuring the space consumption of the IAM on the typed term. Intersection types have been repeatedly used to measure time, which they achieve by dropping idempotency, turning intersections into multisets. Here we show that the space consumption of the IAM is connected to a further structural modification, turning multisets into trees. Tree intersection types lead to a finer understanding of some space complexity results from the literature. They also shed new light on the conjecture about reasonable space: we show that the usual way of encoding Turing machines into the lambda calculus cannot be used to prove that the space of the IAM is a reasonable cost model.

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arXiv2020

Factorize Factorization

Factorization -- a simple form of standardization -- is concerned with reduction strategies, i.e. how a result is computed. We present a new technique for proving factorization theorems for compound rewriting systems in a modular way, which is inspired by the Hindley-Rosen technique for confluence. Specifically, our technique is well adapted to deal with extensions of the call-by-name and call-by-value lambda-calculi. The technique is first developed abstractly. We isolate a sufficient condition (called linear swap) for lifting factorization from components to the compound system, and which is compatible with beta-reduction. We then closely analyze some common factorization schemas for the lambda-calculus. Concretely, we apply our technique to diverse extensions of the lambda-calculus, among which de' Liguoro and Piperno's non-deterministic lambda-calculus and -- for call-by-value -- Carraro and Guerrieri's shuffling calculus. For both calculi the literature contains factorization theorems. In both cases, we give a new proof which is neat, simpler than the original, and strikingly shorter.

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arXiv2020

The (In)Efficiency of Interaction

Evaluating higher-order functional programs through abstract machines inspired by the geometry of the interaction is known to induce $\textit{space}$ efficiencies, the price being $\textit{time}$ performances often poorer than those obtainable with traditional, environment-based, abstract machines. Although families of lambda-terms for which the former is exponentially less efficient than the latter do exist, it is currently unknown how \emph{general} this phenomenon is, and how far the inefficiencies can go, in the worst case. We answer these questions formulating four different well-known abstract machines inside a common definitional framework, this way being able to give sharp results about the relative time efficiencies. We also prove that non-idempotent intersection type theories are able to precisely reflect the time performances of the interactive abstract machine, this way showing that its time-inefficiency ultimately descends from the presence of higher-order types.

cs.PL↗
arXiv2020

Functional Pearl: The Distributive $λ$-Calculus

We introduce a simple extension of the $λ$-calculus with pairs---called the distributive $λ$-calculus---obtained by adding a computational interpretation of the valid distributivity isomorphism $A \Rightarrow (B\wedge C)\ \ \equiv\ \ (A\Rightarrow B) \wedge (A\Rightarrow C)$ of simple types. We study the calculus both as an untyped and as a simply typed setting. Key features of the untyped calculus are confluence, the absence of clashes of constructs, that is, evaluation never gets stuck, and a leftmost-outermost normalization theorem, obtained with straightforward proofs. With respect to simple types, we show that the new rules satisfy subject reduction if types are considered up to the distributivity isomorphism. The main result is strong normalization for simple types up to distributivity. The proof is a smooth variation over the one for the $λ$-calculus with pairs and simple types.

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arXiv2020

The Abstract Machinery of Interaction (Long Version)

This paper revisits the Interaction Abstract Machine (IAM), a machine based on Girard's Geometry of Interaction, introduced by Mackie and Danos & Regnier. It is an unusual machine, not relying on environments, presented on linear logic proof nets, and whose soundness proof is convoluted and passes through various other formalisms. Here we provide a new direct proof of its correctness, based on a variant of Sands's improvements, a natural notion of bisimulation. Moreover, our proof is carried out on a new presentation of the IAM, defined as a machine acting directly on $λ$-terms, rather than on linear logic proof nets.

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arXiv2019

Factorization and Normalization, Essentially

Lambda-calculi come with no fixed evaluation strategy. Different strategies may then be considered, and it is important that they satisfy some abstract rewriting property, such as factorization or normalization theorems. In this paper we provide simple proof techniques for these theorems. Our starting point is a revisitation of Takahashi's technique to prove factorization for head reduction. Our technique is both simpler and more powerful, as it works in cases where Takahishi's does not. We then pair factorization with two other abstract properties, defining \emph{essential systems}, and show that normalization follows. Concretely, we apply the technique to four case studies, two classic ones, head and the leftmost-outermost reductions, and two less classic ones, non-deterministic weak call-by-value and least-level reductions.

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arXiv2019

Crumbling Abstract Machines

Extending the lambda-calculus with a construct for sharing, such as let expressions, enables a special representation of terms: iterated applications are decomposed by introducing sharing points in between any two of them, reducing to the case where applications have only values as immediate subterms. This work studies how such a crumbled representation of terms impacts on the design and the efficiency of abstract machines for call-by-value evaluation. About the design, it removes the need for data structures encoding the evaluation context, such as the applicative stack and the dump, that get encoded in the environment. About efficiency, we show that there is no slowdown, clarifying in particular a point raised by Kennedy, about the potential inefficiency of such a representation. Moreover, we prove that everything smoothly scales up to the delicate case of open terms, needed to implement proof assistants. Along the way, we also point out that continuation-passing style transformations--that may be alternatives to our representation--do not scale up to the open case.

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arXiv2019

Sharing Equality is Linear

The $λ$-calculus is a handy formalism to specify the evaluation of higher-order programs. It is not very handy, however, when one interprets the specification as an execution mechanism, because terms can grow exponentially with the number of $β$-steps. This is why implementations of functional languages and proof assistants always rely on some form of sharing of subterms. These frameworks however do not only evaluate $λ$-terms, they also have to compare them for equality. In presence of sharing, one is actually interested in the equality---or more precisely $α$-conversion---of the underlying unshared $λ$-terms. The literature contains algorithms for such a sharing equality, that are polynomial in the sizes of the shared terms. This paper improves the bounds in the literature by presenting the first linear time algorithm. As others before us, we are inspired by Paterson and Wegman's algorithm for first-order unification, itself based on representing terms with sharing as DAGs, and sharing equality as bisimulation of DAGs.

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arXiv2019

Types by Need (Extended Version)

A cornerstone of the theory of lambda-calculus is that intersection types characterise termination properties. They are a flexible tool that can be adapted to various notions of termination, and that also induces adequate denotational models. Since the seminal work of de Carvalho in 2007, it is known that multi types (i.e. non-idempotent intersection types) refine intersection types with quantitative information and a strong connection to linear logic. Typically, type derivations provide bounds for evaluation lengths, and minimal type derivations provide exact bounds. De Carvalho studied call-by-name evaluation, and Kesner used his system to show the termination equivalence of call-by-need and call-by-name. De Carvalho's system, however, cannot provide exact bounds on call-by-need evaluation lengths. In this paper we develop a new multi type system for call-by-need. Our system produces exact bounds and induces a denotational model of call-by-need, providing the first tight quantitative semantics of call-by-need.

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arXiv2018

Types of Fireballs (Extended Version)

The good properties of Plotkin's call-by-value lambda-calculus crucially rely on the restriction to weak evaluation and closed terms. Open call-by-value is the more general setting where evaluation is weak but terms may be open. Such an extension is delicate, and the literature contains a number of proposals. Recently, Accattoli and Guerrieri provided detailed operational and implementative studies of these proposals, showing that they are equivalent from the point of view of termination, and also at the level of time cost models. This paper explores the denotational semantics of open call-by-value, adapting de Carvalho's analysis of call-by-name via multi types (aka non-idempotent intersection types). Our type system characterises normalisation and thus provides an adequate relational semantics. Moreover, type derivations carry quantitative information about the cost of evaluation: their size bounds the number of evaluation steps and the size of the normal form, and we also characterise derivations giving exact bounds. The study crucially relies on a new, refined presentation of the fireball calculus, the simplest proposal for open call-by-value, that is more apt to denotational investigations.

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arXiv2018

Proof Nets and the Linear Substitution Calculus

Since the very beginning of the theory of linear logic it is known how to represent the $λ$-calculus as linear logic proof nets. The two systems however have different granularities, in particular proof nets have an explicit notion of sharing---the exponentials---and a micro-step operational semantics, while the $λ$-calculus has no sharing and a small-step operational semantics. Here we show that the \emph{linear substitution calculus}, a simple refinement of the $λ$-calculus with sharing, is isomorphic to proof nets at the operational level. Nonetheless, two different terms with sharing can still have the same proof nets representation---a further result is the characterisation of the equality induced by proof nets over terms with sharing. Finally, such a detailed analysis of the relationship between terms and proof nets, suggests a new, abstract notion of proof net, based on rewriting considerations and not necessarily of a graphical nature.

cs.LO↗
arXiv2018

Tight Typings and Split Bounds

Multi types---aka non-idempotent intersection types---have been used to obtain quantitative bounds on higher-order programs, as pioneered by de Carvalho. Notably, they bound at the same time the number of evaluation steps and the size of the result. Recent results show that the number of steps can be taken as a reasonable time complexity measure. At the same time, however, these results suggest that multi types provide quite lax complexity bounds, because the size of the result can be exponentially bigger than the number of steps. Starting from this observation, we refine and generalise a technique introduced by Bernadet & Graham-Lengrand to provide exact bounds for the maximal strategy. Our typing judgements carry two counters, one measuring evaluation lengths and the other measuring result sizes. In order to emphasise the modularity of the approach, we provide exact bounds for four evaluation strategies, both in the lambda-calculus (head, leftmost-outermost, and maximal evaluation) and in the linear substitution calculus (linear head evaluation). Our work aims at both capturing the results in the literature and extending them with new outcomes. Concerning the literature, it unifies de Carvalho and Bernadet & Graham-Lengrand via a uniform technique and a complexity-based perspective. The two main novelties are exact split bounds for the leftmost strategy---the only known strategy that evaluates terms to full normal forms and provides a reasonable complexity measure---and the observation that the computing device hidden behind multi types is the notion of substitution at a distance, as implemented by the linear substitution calculus.

cs.PL↗
arXiv2017

Implementing Open Call-by-Value (Extended Version)

The theory of the call-by-value lambda-calculus relies on weak evaluation and closed terms, that are natural hypotheses in the study of programming languages. To model proof assistants, however, strong evaluation and open terms are required. Open call-by-value is the intermediate setting of weak evaluation with open terms, on top of which Grégoire and Leroy designed the abstract machine of Coq. This paper provides a theory of abstract machines for open call-by-value. The literature contains machines that are either simple but inefficient, as they have an exponential overhead, or efficient but heavy, as they rely on a labelling of environments and a technical optimization. We introduce a machine that is simple and efficient: it does not use labels and it implements open call-by-value within a bilinear overhead. Moreover, we provide a new fine understanding of how different optimizations impact on the complexity of the overhead.

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