Type-theoretic foundations for concurrent object-oriented programing

ABSTRACT

A number of attempts have been made to obtain type systems for object-oriented programming. The view that lies common is “object-oriented programming = λ-calculus + record.” Based on an analogous view “concurrent object-oriented programming = concurrent calculus + record,” we develop a static type system for concurrent object-oriented programming. We choose our own Higher-Order ACL as a basic concurrent calculus, and show that a concurrent object-oriented language can be easily encoded in the Higher-Order ACL extended with record operations. Since Higher-Order ACL has a strong type system with a polymorphic type inference mechanism, programs of the concurrent object-oriented language can be automatically type-checked by the encoding in Higher-Order ACL. Our approach can give clear accounts for complex mechanisms such as inheritance and method overriding within a simple framework.

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Index Terms

• Computing methodologies

  • Concurrent computing methodologies

    • Concurrent programming languages

• Software and its engineering

  • Software notations and tools

    • General programming languages

      • Language types

        • Concurrent programming languages

        • Object oriented languages

• Theory of computation

  • Semantics and reasoning

    • Program constructs

      • Type structures