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Author

Frank Pfenning

Other affiliations: Max Planck Society, University of Porto, Microsoft  ...read more
Bio: Frank Pfenning is an academic researcher from Carnegie Mellon University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Linear logic & Logic programming. The author has an hindex of 60, co-authored 291 publications receiving 13597 citations. Previous affiliations of Frank Pfenning include Max Planck Society & University of Porto.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jun 1988
TL;DR: Higher-order abstract syntax incorporates name binding information in a uniform and language generic way and acts as a powerful link integrating diverse tools in program manipulation and other formal systems where matching and substitution or unification are central operations.
Abstract: We describe motivation, design, use, and implementation of higher-order abstract syntax as a central representation for programs, formulas, rules, and other syntactic objects in program manipulation and other formal systems where matching and substitution or unification are central operations. Higher-order abstract syntax incorporates name binding information in a uniform and language generic way. Thus it acts as a powerful link integrating diverse tools in such formal environments. We have implemented higher-order abstract syntax, a supporting matching and unification algorithm, and some clients in Common Lisp in the framework of the Ergo project at Carnegie Mellon University.

726 citations

Book ChapterDOI
07 Jul 1999
TL;DR: Twelf as mentioned in this paper is a meta-logical framework for the specification, implementation, and meta-theory of deductive systems from the theory of programming languages and logics, which relies on the LF type theory and the judgments-as-types methodology for specification.
Abstract: Twelf is a meta-logical framework for the specification, implementation, and meta-theory of deductive systems from the theory of programming languages and logics. It relies on the LF type theory and the judgments-as-types methodology for specification [HHP93], a constraint logic programming interpreter for implementation [Pfe91], and the meta-logic M2 for reasoning about object languages encoded in LF [SP98]. It is a significant extension and complete reimplementation of the Elf system [Pfe94]. Twelf is written in Standard ML and runs under SML of New Jersey and MLWorks on Unix and Window platforms. The current version (1.2) is distributed with a complete manual, example suites, a tutorial in the form of on-line lecture notes [Pfe], and an Emacs interface. Source and binary distributions are accessible via the Twelf home page http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~twelf.

688 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A proof-theoretic characterization of logical languages that form suitable bases for Prolog-like programming languages is provided and it is shown that first-order and higher-order Horn clauses with classical provability are examples of such a language.

687 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: An approach to enriching the type system of ML with a restricted form of dependent types, where type index objects are drawn from a constraint domain C, leading to the DML(C) language schema, which allows specification and inference of significantly more precise type information, facilitating program error detection and compiler optimization.
Abstract: We present an approach to enriching the type system of ML with a restricted form of dependent types, where type index objects are drawn from a constraint domain C, leading to the DML(C) language schema. This allows specification and inference of significantly more precise type information, facilitating program error detection and compiler optimization. A major complication resulting from introducing dependent types is that pure type inference for the enriched system is no longer possible, but we show that type-checking a sufficiently annotated program in DML(C) can be reduced to constraint satisfaction in the constraint domain C. We exhibit the unobtrusiveness of our approach through practical examples and prove that DML(C) is conservative over ML. The main contribution of the paper lies in our language design, including the formulation of type-checking rules which makes the approach practical. To our knowledge, no previous type system for a general purpose programming language such as ML has combined dependent types with features including datatype declarations, higher-order functions, general recursions, let-polymorphism, mutable references, and exceptions. In addition, we have finished a prototype implementation of DML(C) for an integer constraint domain C, where constraints are linear inequalities (Xi and Pfenning 1998).

631 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
01 May 1991
TL;DR: A type system called refinement types is described, which is an example of a new way to make this tradeoff, as well as a potentially useful system in itself.
Abstract: Programming computers is a notoriously error-prone process. It is the job of the programming language designer to make this process more reliable. One approach to this is to impose some sort of typing discipline on the programs. In doing this, the programming language designer is immediately faced with a tradeoff: if the type system is too simple, it cannot accurately express important properties of the program; if it is too expressive, then mechanically checking or inferring the types becomes impractical. This thesis describes a type system called refinement types, which is an example of a new way to make this tradeoff, as well as a potentially useful system in itself. Refinement type inference requires programs to have types in two type systems: an expressive type inference system (intersection types with subtyping) and a relatively simple type system (basic polymorphic type inference). Refinement type inference inherits some properties from each of these: as in intersection types with subtyping, we can use the type system to do abstract interpretation; as in basic polymorphic type inference, refinement type inference is decidable (preliminary experiments suggest refinement type inference may be practical as well). We have implemented refinement type inference for a subset of Standard ML to test these ideas. We have added new syntax, called rectype declarations, to allow the programmer to specify relevant domains for the abstract interpretation. A prototype implementation of refinement type inference can do some interesting case analysis for Standard ML programs; for example, if the programmer uses a rectype declaration to declare interest in whether a boolean expression is in conjunctive normal form (CNF), refinement type inference can efficiently prove that a function for converting boolean expressions to CNF does indeed always return a boolean expression in CNF. Rectype declarations and refinement type inference seem flexible and efficient enough to practically enforce many other useful program properties as well.

444 citations


Cited by
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Book ChapterDOI
29 Mar 2008
TL;DR: Z3 is a new and efficient SMT Solver freely available from Microsoft Research that is used in various software verification and analysis applications.
Abstract: Satisfiability Modulo Theories (SMT) problem is a decision problem for logical first order formulas with respect to combinations of background theories such as: arithmetic, bit-vectors, arrays, and uninterpreted functions. Z3 is a new and efficient SMT Solver freely available from Microsoft Research. It is used in various software verification and analysis applications.

6,859 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: AspectJ as mentioned in this paper is a simple and practical aspect-oriented extension to Java with just a few new constructs, AspectJ provides support for modular implementation of a range of crosscutting concerns.
Abstract: Aspect] is a simple and practical aspect-oriented extension to Java With just a few new constructs, AspectJ provides support for modular implementation of a range of crosscutting concerns. In AspectJ's dynamic join point model, join points are well-defined points in the execution of the program; pointcuts are collections of join points; advice are special method-like constructs that can be attached to pointcuts; and aspects are modular units of crosscutting implementation, comprising pointcuts, advice, and ordinary Java member declarations. AspectJ code is compiled into standard Java bytecode. Simple extensions to existing Java development environments make it possible to browse the crosscutting structure of aspects in the same kind of way as one browses the inheritance structure of classes. Several examples show that AspectJ is powerful, and that programs written using it are easy to understand.

2,947 citations

Book
01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: This text provides a comprehensive introduction both to type systems in computer science and to the basic theory of programming languages, with a variety of approaches to modeling the features of object-oriented languages.
Abstract: A type system is a syntactic method for automatically checking the absence of certain erroneous behaviors by classifying program phrases according to the kinds of values they compute. The study of type systems -- and of programming languages from a type-theoretic perspective -- has important applications in software engineering, language design, high-performance compilers, and security.This text provides a comprehensive introduction both to type systems in computer science and to the basic theory of programming languages. The approach is pragmatic and operational; each new concept is motivated by programming examples and the more theoretical sections are driven by the needs of implementations. Each chapter is accompanied by numerous exercises and solutions, as well as a running implementation, available via the Web. Dependencies between chapters are explicitly identified, allowing readers to choose a variety of paths through the material.The core topics include the untyped lambda-calculus, simple type systems, type reconstruction, universal and existential polymorphism, subtyping, bounded quantification, recursive types, kinds, and type operators. Extended case studies develop a variety of approaches to modeling the features of object-oriented languages.

2,391 citations

01 Jan 1978
TL;DR: This ebook is the first authorized digital version of Kernighan and Ritchie's 1988 classic, The C Programming Language (2nd Ed.), and is a "must-have" reference for every serious programmer's digital library.
Abstract: This ebook is the first authorized digital version of Kernighan and Ritchie's 1988 classic, The C Programming Language (2nd Ed.). One of the best-selling programming books published in the last fifty years, "K&R" has been called everything from the "bible" to "a landmark in computer science" and it has influenced generations of programmers. Available now for all leading ebook platforms, this concise and beautifully written text is a "must-have" reference for every serious programmers digital library. As modestly described by the authors in the Preface to the First Edition, this "is not an introductory programming manual; it assumes some familiarity with basic programming concepts like variables, assignment statements, loops, and functions. Nonetheless, a novice programmer should be able to read along and pick up the language, although access to a more knowledgeable colleague will help."

2,120 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A structured view of research on information-flow security is given, particularly focusing on work that uses static program analysis to enforce information- flow policies, and some important open challenges are identified.
Abstract: Current standard security practices do not provide substantial assurance that the end-to-end behavior of a computing system satisfies important security policies such as confidentiality. An end-to-end confidentiality policy might assert that secret input data cannot be inferred by an attacker through the attacker's observations of system output; this policy regulates information flow. Conventional security mechanisms such as access control and encryption do not directly address the enforcement of information-flow policies. Previously, a promising new approach has been developed: the use of programming-language techniques for specifying and enforcing information-flow policies. In this paper, we survey the past three decades of research on information-flow security, particularly focusing on work that uses static program analysis to enforce information-flow policies. We give a structured view of work in the area and identify some important open challenges.

2,058 citations