Applicative Shortcut Fusion

with Germán Delbianco and Alberto Pardo. TFP 2011.PDF

Abstract

In functional programming one usually writes programs as the composition of simpler functions. Consequently, the result of a function might be generated only to be consumed immediately by another function. This potential source of inefficiency can often be eliminated using a technique called shortcut fusion, which fuses both functions involved in a composition to yield a monolithic one. In this article we investigate how to apply shortcut fusion to applicative computations. Applicative functors provide a model of computational effects which generalise monads, but they favour an applicative programming style. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time shortcut fusion is considered in an applicative setting.

BibTeX

@inproceedings{DJPTFP:2011,
  author    = {Germ\'an A. Delbianco and Mauro Jaskelioff and Alberto Pardo},
  itle      = {Applicative Shortcut Fusion},
  booktitle = {Trends in Functional Programming, 12th International Symposium, {TFP}
               2011, Madrid, Spain, May 16-18, 2011, Revised Selected Papers},
  editor    = {Ricardo Pe{\~{n}}a and Rex L. Page},
  pages     = {179--194},
  address   = {Madrid, Spain},
  url       = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32037-8_12},
  doi       = {10.1007/978-3-642-32037-8_12},
  series    = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science},
  volume    = {7193},
  isbn      = {978-3-642-32036-1},
  publisher = {Springer},
  year      = {2011}
}