An implementation of syntax directed functional programming on nested-stack machines

Abstract

This paper contributes to the field of functional programming languages. We investigate the call-by-name and call-by-need implementation of a restricted type of functional programming, called syntax directed functional programming ; the target of this implementation is an abstract machine that is based on nested stacks. In fact, the technical kernel of this paper is a refinement of an automata theoretical result that, roughly speaking, investigates the well-known relationship “recursion = iteration + stack” in the framework of tree transducers. More precisely, in the underlying result the class of functions computed by total deterministic macro tree-to-string transducers with the call-by-name computation strategy is characterized by total deterministic checking-tree nested-stack transducers. Note that total deterministic macro tree-to-string transducers are term rewriting systems by means of which the reduction semantics of syntax directed functional programming languages can be described.