A theory of mixin modules: algebraic laws and reduction semantics

  • Authors:
  • Davide Ancona;Elena Zucca

  • Affiliations:
  • Dipartimento di Informatica e Scienze dell'Informazione, Via Dodecaneso, 35, 16146 Genova (Italy) Email: davide@disi.unige.it, zucca@disi.unige.it;Dipartimento di Informatica e Scienze dell'Informazione, Via Dodecaneso, 35, 16146 Genova (Italy) Email: davide@disi.unige.it, zucca@disi.unige.it

  • Venue:
  • Mathematical Structures in Computer Science
  • Year:
  • 2002

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Abstract

Mixins are modules that may contain deferred components, that is, components not defined in the module itself; moreover, in contrast to parameterised modules (like ML functors), they can be mutually dependent and allow their definitions to be overridden. In a preceding paper we defined a syntax and denotational semantics of a kernel language of mixin modules. Here, we take instead an axiomatic approach, giving a set of algebraic laws expressing the expected properties of a small set of primitive operators on mixins. Interpreting axioms as rewriting rules, we get a reduction semantics for the language and prove the existence of normal forms. Moreover, we show that the model defined in the earlier paper satisfies the given axiomatisation.