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Bidirectional Typing

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Neel KrishnaswamiAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR), Volume 54, Issue 5

Article No.: 98, Pages 1 - 38

https://doi.org/10.1145/3450952

Published: 25 May 2021 Publication History

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Abstract

Bidirectional typing combines two modes of typing: type checking, which checks that a program satisfies a known type, and type synthesis, which determines a type from the program. Using checking enables bidirectional typing to support features for which inference is undecidable; using synthesis enables bidirectional typing to avoid the large annotation burden of explicitly typed languages. In addition, bidirectional typing improves error locality. We highlight the design principles that underlie bidirectional type systems, survey the development of bidirectional typing from the prehistoric period before Pierce and Turner’s local type inference to the present day, and provide guidance for future investigations.

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Cited By

Berger FSchimpf ABieniusa AWehr SFernandez-Reyes KVoinea A(2024)Same Same but Different: A Comparative Analysis of Static Type Checkers in ErlangProceedings of the 23rd ACM SIGPLAN International Workshop on Erlang10.1145/3677995.3678189(2-12)Online publication date: 28-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677995.3678189
Xue XOliveira B(2024)Contextual TypingProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/36746558:ICFP(880-908)Online publication date: 15-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3674655
Zhou ZYe QDelaware BJagannathan S(2024)A HAT Trick: Automatically Verifying Representation Invariants using Symbolic Finite AutomataProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/36564338:PLDI(1387-1411)Online publication date: 20-Jun-2024
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Index Terms

Bidirectional Typing
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. General programming languages
      1. Language features
        Data types and structures
2. Theory of computation
  1. Logic
    1. Type theory

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cover image ACM Computing Surveys

ACM Computing Surveys Volume 54, Issue 5

June 2022

719 pages

ISSN:0360-0300

EISSN:1557-7341

DOI:10.1145/3467690

Editor:
Albert Zomaya
University of Sydney, Australia

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Publication History

Published: 25 May 2021

Accepted: 01 February 2021

Revised: 01 February 2021

Received: 01 August 2019

Published in CSUR Volume 54, Issue 5

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Cited By

Berger FSchimpf ABieniusa AWehr SFernandez-Reyes KVoinea A(2024)Same Same but Different: A Comparative Analysis of Static Type Checkers in ErlangProceedings of the 23rd ACM SIGPLAN International Workshop on Erlang10.1145/3677995.3678189(2-12)Online publication date: 28-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677995.3678189
Xue XOliveira B(2024)Contextual TypingProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/36746558:ICFP(880-908)Online publication date: 15-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3674655
Zhou ZYe QDelaware BJagannathan S(2024)A HAT Trick: Automatically Verifying Representation Invariants using Symbolic Finite AutomataProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/36564338:PLDI(1387-1411)Online publication date: 20-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3656433
Parreaux LBoruch-Gruszecki AFan AChau C(2024)When Subtyping Constraints Liberate: A Novel Type Inference Approach for First-Class PolymorphismProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/36328908:POPL(1418-1450)Online publication date: 5-Jan-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3632890
Tallada MDenny JValero-Lara PLee STeranishi KVetter J(2024)eCC++ : A Compiler Construction Framework for Embedded Domain-Specific Languages2024 IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium Workshops (IPDPSW)10.1109/IPDPSW63119.2024.00129(667-677)Online publication date: 27-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/IPDPSW63119.2024.00129
Espírito Santo JSousa A(2024)Partial Proof Terms in the Study of Idealized Proof SearchIntelligent Computer Mathematics10.1007/978-3-031-66997-2_16(279-297)Online publication date: 29-Jul-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66997-2_16
Economou DKrishnaswami NDunfield J(2023)Focusing on Refinement TypingACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems10.1145/361040845:4(1-62)Online publication date: 20-Dec-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3610408
Lemay MFu QBlair WZhang CXi HCong YDagand P(2023)A Dependently Typed Language with Dynamic EqualityProceedings of the 8th ACM SIGPLAN International Workshop on Type-Driven Development10.1145/3609027.3609407(44-57)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2023
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Fowler SAttard DSowul FGay STrinder P(2023)Special Delivery: Programming with Mailbox TypesProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/36078327:ICFP(78-107)Online publication date: 31-Aug-2023
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Mordido ASpaderna JThiemann PVasconcelos V(2023)Parameterized Algebraic ProtocolsProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/35912777:PLDI(1389-1413)Online publication date: 6-Jun-2023
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