Skip to main content

An Internal Language for Autonomous Categories

  • Conference paper
Theory and Formal Methods 1993

Part of the book series: Workshops in Computing ((WORKSHOPS COMP.))

Abstract

In this extended abstract we present an internal language for symmetric monoidal closed (autonomous) categories analogous to the typed lambda calculus being an internal language for cartesian closed categories. The language we propose is the term assignment to the multiplicative fragment of Intuitionistic Linear Logic, which possesses exactly the right structure for an autonomous theory. We prove that this language is an internal language and show as an application the coherence theorem of Kelly and Mac Lane, which becomes straightforward to state and prove. We then hint at some further applications of this language; a further treatment will be given in the full paper.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. S. Abramsky. Computational Interpretation of Linear Logic. Theoretical Computer Science, 111:3-57, 1993. Earlier version appeared as Imperial College Technical Report DOC 90 /20, October 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  2. H.P. Barendregt. The Lambda Calculus: Its Syntax and Semantics. North-Holland, revised edition, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  3. M. Barr and C. Wells. Category Theory for Computing Science. International Series in Computer Science. Prentice Hall, 1990.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. N. Benton, G. Bierman, V. de Paiva, and M. Hyland. Term assignment for intuitionistic linear logic. Technical Report No. 262, University of Cambridge, August 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  5. G. Berry and G. Boudol. The Chemical Abstract Machine. In Conference Record of the Seventeenth Annual ACM Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages, pages 81 - 94, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  6. R. Blute. Linear logic, coherence and dinaturality. Technical report, McGill University, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  7. J.-Y. Girard. Linear Logic. Theoretical Computer Science, 50 (1): 1 - 102, 1987.

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. B. Jay. Languages for monoidal categories. Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra, 59: 6185, 1989.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  9. B. Jay. A note on natural numbers objects in monoidal categories. Studia Logica, XLVIII: 389 - 393, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  10. G.M. Kelly and S. Mac Lane. Coherence in closed categories. Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra, 1: 97 - 140, 1971.

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  11. J. Lambek and P.J. Scott. Introduction to Higher Order Categorical Logic. Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics Vol. 7. Cambridge University Press, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  12. S. Mac Lane. Natural associativity and commutativity. Rice University Studies, 49: 2846, 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  13. S. Mac Lane. Categories for the Working Mathematician. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1971.

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  14. I.C. Mackie. Lilac: A functional programming language based on linear logic. Masters thesis, Department of Computing, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of London, September 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  15. R. Milner. Functions as processes. In Proceedings of ICALP 90, volume 443 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 167-180. Springer-Verlag, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  16. R.A.G. Seely. Linear logic, *-autonomous categories and cofree coalgebras. In J.W. Gray and A. Scedrov, editors, Categories in Computer Science and Logic, volume 92 of Contemporary Mathematics, pages 371-382. American Mathematical Society, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1993 British Computer Society

About this paper

Cite this paper

Mackie, I., Román, L., Abramsky, S. (1993). An Internal Language for Autonomous Categories. In: Burn, G., Gay, S., Ryan, M. (eds) Theory and Formal Methods 1993. Workshops in Computing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3503-6_18

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3503-6_18

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-19842-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-3503-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics