Linear type theory for asynchronous session types

Session types support a type-theoretic formulation of structured patterns of communication, so that the communication behaviour of agents in a distributed system can be verified by static type checking. Applications include network protocols, business processes, and operating system services. In this paper we define a multithreaded functional language with session types, which unifies, simplifies and extends previous work. There are four main contributions. First: an operational semantics with buffered channels, instead of the synchronous communication of previous work. Second: we prove that the session type of a channel gives an upper bound on the necessary size of the buffer. Third: session types are manipulated by means of the standard structures of a linear type theory, rather than by means of new forms of typing judgement. Fourth: a notion of subtyping, including the standard subtyping relation for session types (imported into the functional setting), and a novel form of subt...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: JFP
• Authors: Simon J. Gay, Vasco Thudichum Vasconcelos
• Keywords: JFP 2010, Linear Types, Session Types, Standard Subtyping Relation