Posted: 26th January 2010

Topic

"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 of things such as the shape of data, algebraic structures, 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 to some type, that values transmitted along a channel conforms to some protocol, and so on.

The two forces of genericity and indexing balance each other nicely, simultaneously promoting and controlling generality. The EPSRC-funded Generic and Indexed Programming project at Oxford has been exploring their interaction over the period 2006 - 2010; this school is the closing activity of the project.

Six lecturers from the Programming Languages community, each an acknowledged expert in their specialism, will cover various aspects of generic and indexed programming. Each will give about four hours' lectures, distributed throughout the week.

• Nate Foster (Princeton University)
  "Bidirectional Programming"
• Ralf Hinze (University of Oxford)
  "Generic Programming with Adjunctions"
• Oleg Kiselyov (Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center)
  "Typed Tagless Interpreters"
• Simon Peyton Jones (Microsoft Research Cambridge)
  "Type Functions"
• Jeremy Siek (University of Colorado at Boulder)
  "Concepts in C++"
• Stephanie Weirich (University of Pennsylvania)
  "Generic Programming with Dependent Types"

The school is aimed at doctoral students in programming languages and related areas; however, researchers and practitioners will be very welcome, as will strong masters students with the support of a supervisor. It will be assumed that participants have a good understanding of typed functional programming, as in Haskell or O'Caml.

Registration deadline: 19th February

School: 22nd March (0900) to 26th March (lunchtime)

Lectures will be held and accommodation provided in Wadham College in the centre of Oxford. The college celebrates its 400th anniversary in 2010; notable past members include Sir Christopher Wren, the founder of the Royal Society, and notable present ones Marcus du Sautoy, the mathematician and TV presenter.

Costs will be kept low, thanks to support from EPSRC. There will be a nominal registration fee, and B&B accommodation in college will be about £55 per night. (Precise costs are yet to be determined.)

Further information, including instructions on how to register, will be available soon at the school website