Type Inference, Abstract Interpretation and Strictness Analysis

Coppo, M. and A. Ferrari, Type inference, abstract interpretation and strictness analysis, Theoretical Computer Science 121 (1993) 113-143. Filter domains (Coppo et al., 1984) can be seen as abstract domains for the interpretation of (functional) type-free programming languages. What is remarkable is the fact that in filter domains the interpretation of a term is given by the set of its types in the intersection type discipline with inclusion, thus reducing the computation of an abstract interpretation to typechecking. As a main example, an abstract filter domain for strictness analysis of type-free functional languages is presented. The inclusion relation between types representing strictness properties has a complete recursive axiomatization. Type inference rules cannot be complete (strictness being a II? property), but a complete extension of the type inference system is presented.