A principled approach to REPL interpreters

L. Thomas Van Binsbergen, Mauricio Verano Merino, Pierre Jeanjean, Tijs Van Der Storm, Benoit Combemale, Olivier Barais

Onderzoeksoutput: Hoofdstuk in Boek/Rapport/CongresprocedureConferentiebijdrageAcademicpeer review

17 Citaten (Scopus)

Samenvatting

Read-eval-print-loops (REPLs) allow programmers to test out snippets of code, explore APIs, or even incrementally construct code, and get immediate feedback on their actions. However, even though many languages provide a REPL, the relation between the language as is and what is accepted at the REPL prompt is not always well-defined. Furthermore, implementing a REPL for new languages, such as DSLs, may incur significant language engineering cost. In this paper we survey the domain of REPLs and investigate the (formal) principles underlying REPLs. We identify and define the class of sequential languages, which admit a sound REPL implementation based on a definitional interpreter, and present design guidelines for extending existing language implementations to support REPL-style interfaces (including computational notebooks). The obtained REPLs can then be generically turned into an exploring interpreter, to allow exploration of the user's interaction. The approach is illustrated using three case studies, based on MiniJava, QL (a DSL for questionnaires), and eFLINT (a DSL for normative rules). We expect sequential languages, and the consequent design principles, to be stepping stones towards a better understanding of the essence of REPLs.

Originele taal-2Engels
TitelOnward! 2020 - Proceedings of the 2020 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on New Ideas, New Paradigms, and Reflections on Programming and Software, Co-located with SPLASH 2020
RedacteurenStephen Kell, Didier Verna
UitgeverijAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc.
Pagina's84-100
Aantal pagina's17
ISBN van elektronische versie9781450381789
DOI's
StatusGepubliceerd - 8 nov. 2020
Evenement2020 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on New Ideas, New Paradigms, and Reflections on Programming and Software, Onward! 2020, co-located with SPLASH 2020 - Virtual, Online, Verenigde Staten van Amerika
Duur: 18 nov. 202020 nov. 2020

Congres

Congres2020 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on New Ideas, New Paradigms, and Reflections on Programming and Software, Onward! 2020, co-located with SPLASH 2020
Land/RegioVerenigde Staten van Amerika
StadVirtual, Online
Periode18/11/2020/11/20

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