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Functional Programming and Input/Output

Andrew D. Gordon

Distinguished Dissertations in Computer Science.
Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 0 521 47103 6 hardback.
Publication date 29 September. UK net price 25 pounds.
Ring +44 1223 325970 or fax +44 1223 325959 at any time to order
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Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. A Calculus of Recursive Types
3. A Metalanguage for Semantics
4. Operational Precongruence
5. Theory of the Metalanguage
6. An Operational Theory of Functional Programming
7. Four Mechanisms for Teletype I/O
8. Monadic I/O
9. Summary

A summary of the book is available on the WWW .

The book studies the semantics of I/O in functional languages. Perhaps the most original aspect is its use of a typed form of Abramsky's applicative bisimulation together with co-induction to yield an entirely operational theory of a functional language and its I/O mechanism. It is a revised version of the author's PhD dissertation but Chapter 8, on monadic I/O, is largely new, and in a Preface the author discusses developments since submission of the dissertation. There is also an extensive bibliography of I/O mechanisms for functional languages.