ylfink@water.UUCP (ylfink) (02/11/86)
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
SEMINAR ACTIVITIES
COMPUTER SCIENCE COLLOQUIUM
- Thursday, February 13, 1986.
Professor Peter Buhr of the University of Manitoba will
speak on ``A Programming Environment for a Strongly and
Statically typed Programming Language''.
TIME: 3:30 PM
ROOM: MC 3003
ABSTRACT
Designing a programming environment for a strongly and
statically typed programming language (SSTPL) is more
complex than for a non-typed (e.g. LISP, APL) or dynam-
ically typed (Smalltalk, ML) programming language.
While there will be similarities in facilities a pro-
gramming environment might provide for both classes of
programming languages, the former has the added burden
of guaranteeing type-safety statically. Conventional
systems for a SSTPL usually guarantees type-safety for
only a single monolithic program. References to other
separately compiled programs or external files are usu-
ally not type checked. This failure of the programming
environment to guarantee type-safety for all references
to all entities severely undermines the fundamental
purpose of data-typing in a SSTPL.
This talk will argue against the development of a com-
plex programming environment (e.g. ASPE) to solve this
problem. Instead, with appropriate augmentation, much
of what is traditionally thought of as programming-
environment function can be embedded in a SSTPL, and
this language can then be used directly to provide a
powerful coherent type-safe system for program develop-
ment, testing and subsequent usage by end-users.