Lecture Notes in Computer Science

Generic programming is about making programs more widely applicable via exotic kinds of parametrization---not just along the dimensions of values or of types, but also of things such as the shape of data, algebraicstructures, strategies, computational paradigms, and so on. Indexed programming is a lightweight form of dependently typed programming, constraining flexibility by allowing one to state and check relationships between parameters: that the shapes of two arguments agree, that an encoded value matches some type, that values transmitted along a channel conform to the stated protocol, and so on. The two forces of genericity and indexing balance each other nicely, simultaneously promoting and controlling generality. The 5 lectures included in this book stem from the Spring School on Generic and Indexed Programming, held in Oxford, UK, in March 2010 as a closing activity of the generic and indexed programming project at Oxford which took place in the years 2006-2010.