research-article

Principles of a reversible programming language

Authors:

Tetsuo Yokoyama,

Holger Bock Axelsen,

Robert GlückAuthors Info & Claims

CF '08: Proceedings of the 5th conference on Computing frontiers

Pages 43 - 54

https://doi.org/10.1145/1366230.1366239

Published: 05 May 2008 Publication History

Abstract

The principles of reversible programming languages are explicated and illustrated with reference to the design of a high-level imperative language, Janus. The fundamental properties for such languages include backward as well as forward determinism and reversible updates of data. The unique design features of the language include explicit post-condition assertions, direct access to an inverse semantics and the possibility of clean ({\ie}, garbage-free) computation of injective functions. We suggest the clean simulation of reversible Turing machines as a criterion for computing strength of reversible languages, and demonstrate this for Janus. We show the practicality of the language by implementation of a reversible fast Fourier transform. Our results indicate that the reversible programming paradigm has fundamental properties that are relevant to many different areas of computer science.

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Cited By

Glück RNormann L(2024)Inversion by Partial Evaluation: A Reversible Interpreter ExperimentElectronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science10.4204/EPTCS.413.1413(1-14)Online publication date: 30-Nov-2024
https://doi.org/10.4204/EPTCS.413.1
Rojas Collins ESridharan M(2024)Automatic Local Inverse Calculation for Change of VariablesCompanion Proceedings of the 2024 ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Systems, Programming, Languages, and Applications: Software for Humanity10.1145/3689491.3689970(34-36)Online publication date: 20-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689491.3689970
MATSUDA KWANG M(2024) Sparcl : A language for partially invertible computation Journal of Functional Programming10.1017/S095679682300012634Online publication date: 26-Jan-2024
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956796823000126
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Principles of a reversible programming language
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Formal language definitions
    2. General programming languages
      1. Language features
2. Theory of computation

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cover image ACM Conferences

CF '08: Proceedings of the 5th conference on Computing frontiers

May 2008

334 pages

ISBN:9781605580777

DOI:10.1145/1366230

General Chair:
Alex Ramirez
UPC, Spain
,
Program Chairs:
Gianfranco Biliardi
University of Padova, Italy
,
Michael Gschwind
IBM TJ Watson Research Center, USA

Copyright © 2008 ACM.

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Published: 05 May 2008

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Cited By

Glück RNormann L(2024)Inversion by Partial Evaluation: A Reversible Interpreter ExperimentElectronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science10.4204/EPTCS.413.1413(1-14)Online publication date: 30-Nov-2024
https://doi.org/10.4204/EPTCS.413.1
Rojas Collins ESridharan M(2024)Automatic Local Inverse Calculation for Change of VariablesCompanion Proceedings of the 2024 ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Systems, Programming, Languages, and Applications: Software for Humanity10.1145/3689491.3689970(34-36)Online publication date: 20-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689491.3689970
MATSUDA KWANG M(2024) Sparcl : A language for partially invertible computation Journal of Functional Programming10.1017/S095679682300012634Online publication date: 26-Jan-2024
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956796823000126
Lami PLanese IStefani J(2024)A Small-Step Semantics for JanusReversible Computation10.1007/978-3-031-62076-8_8(105-123)Online publication date: 29-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-62076-8_8
Lyngby TNylandsted RGlück RYokoyama T(2024)Towards Clean Reversible Lossless CompressionReversible Computation10.1007/978-3-031-62076-8_7(94-102)Online publication date: 4-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-62076-8_7
Gail LMeyer U(2024)Connecting Reversible and Classical Computing Through Hybrid SSAReversible Computation10.1007/978-3-031-62076-8_11(161-178)Online publication date: 4-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-62076-8_11
Ågren Thuné AMatsuda KWang M(2024)Reconciling Partial and Local InvertibilityProgramming Languages and Systems10.1007/978-3-031-57267-8_3(59-89)Online publication date: 6-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-57267-8_3
Glück RYokoyama T(2023)Reversible computing from a programming language perspectiveTheoretical Computer Science10.1016/j.tcs.2022.06.010953(113429)Online publication date: Apr-2023
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tcs.2022.06.010
Deworetzki NGail L(2023)Optimization of Reversible Control Flow GraphsReversible Computation10.1007/978-3-031-38100-3_5(57-72)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38100-3_5
Glück RYokoyama T(2022)Reversible Programming: A Case Study of Two String-Matching AlgorithmsElectronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science10.4204/EPTCS.373.1373(1-13)Online publication date: 22-Nov-2022
https://doi.org/10.4204/EPTCS.373.1
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