Exceptions, continuations and macro-expressiveness

Research output: Chapter or section in a book/report/conference proceedingChapter in a published conference proceeding

10 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

This paper studies the the problem of expressing exceptions using first-class continuations in a functional-imperative language. Themain result is that exceptions cannot be macro-expressed using first-class continuations and references (contrary to “folklore”). This is shown using two kinds of counter example. The first consists of two terms whichare equivalent with respect to contexts containing continuations and references,but which can be distinguished using exceptions. It is shown,however, that there are no such terms which do not contain callcc.However, there is a Π1 sentence of first-order logic which is satisfied when interpreted in the domain of programs containing continuations and references but not satisfied in the domain of programs with exceptions and references. This is used to show that even when callcc isomitted from the source language, exceptions still cannot be expressed using continuations and references.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProgramming Languages and Systems
Subtitle of host publicationProceedings of 11th European Symposium on Programming, ESOP 2002 Held as Part of the Joint European Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2002 Grenoble, France, April 8–12, 2002
EditorsD. Le Metayer
Place of PublicationBerlin, Germany
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages133-146
Number of pages14
ISBN (Print)9783540433637
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Mar 2002
Event11th European Symposium on Programming, ESOP 2002 Held as Part of the Joint European Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2002 - Grenoble, France
Duration: 8 Apr 200212 Apr 2002

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science
Volume2305

Conference

Conference11th European Symposium on Programming, ESOP 2002 Held as Part of the Joint European Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2002
Country/TerritoryFrance
CityGrenoble
Period8/04/0212/04/02

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