English

Trace semantics for polymorphic references

Programming Languages 2016-08-16 v2

Abstract

We introduce a trace semantics for a call-by-value language with full polymorphism and higher-order references. This is an operational game semantics model based on a nominal interpretation of parametricity whereby polymorphic values are abstracted with special kinds of names. The use of polymorphic references leads to violations of parametricity which we counter by closely recoding the disclosure of typing information in the semantics. We prove the model sound for the full language and strengthen our result to full abstraction for a large fragment where polymorphic references obey specific inhabitation conditions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1602.08406,
  title  = {Trace semantics for polymorphic references},
  author = {Guilhem Jaber and Nikos Tzevelekos},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1602.08406},
  year   = {2016}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T12:58:45.857Z