String Diagrams for Lambda Calculi and Functional Computation

An advanced introduction to string diagrams and graph languages for higher-order computation, enhancing clarity and structure in functional programming.

This Element gives an advanced introduction to string diagrams and graph languages for higher-order computation. The subject matter develops in a principled way, starting from the two dimensional syntax of key categorical concepts such as functors, adjunctions, and strictication, and leading up to Cartesian Closed Categories, the core mathematical model of the lambda calculus and of functional programming languages. This methodology inverts the usual approach of proceeding from syntax to a categorical interpretation, by rationally reconstructing a syntax from the categorical model. The result is a graph syntax-more precisely, a hierarchical hypergraph syntax-which in many ways is shown to be an improvement over the conventional linear term syntax. The rest of the Element focuses on applications of interest to programming languages: operational semantics, general frameworks for type inference, and complex whole-program transformations such as closure conversion and automatic differentiation. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.