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Higher-order narrowing with definitional trees

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Rewriting Techniques and Applications (RTA 1996)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1103))

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Abstract

Functional logic languages with a sound and complete operational semantics are mainly based on narrowing. Due to the huge search space of simple narrowing, steadily improved narrowing strategies have been developed in the past. Needed narrowing is currently the best narrowing strategy for first-order functional logic programs due to its optimality properties w.r.t. the length of derivations and the number of computed solutions. In this paper, we extend the needed narrowing strategy to higher-order functions and λ-terms as data structures. By the use of definitional trees, our strategy computes only incomparable solutions. Thus, it is the first calculus for higher-order functional logic programming which provides for such an optimality result. Since we allow higher-order logical variables denoting λ-terms, applications go beyond current functional and logic programming languages.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Informatik II, RWTH Aachen, D-52056, Aachen, Germany

    Michael Hanus

  2. Fakultät für Informatik, TU München, D-80290, München, Germany

    Christian Prehofer

Authors
  1. Michael Hanus
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  2. Christian Prehofer
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Harald Ganzinger

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Hanus, M., Prehofer, C. (1996). Higher-order narrowing with definitional trees. In: Ganzinger, H. (eds) Rewriting Techniques and Applications. RTA 1996. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1103. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61464-8_48

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61464-8_48

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-61464-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-68596-8

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