EPISODE · Aug 22, 2025 · 18 MIN
Schematic Affine Recursion, Oh My!
from Iowa Type Theory Commute · host Aaron Stump
To solve the problem raised in the last episode, I propose schematic affine recursion. We saw that affine lambda calculus (where lambda-bound variables are used at most once) plus structural recursion does not enforce termination, even if you restrict the recursor so that the function to be iterated is closed when you reduce ("closed at reduction"). You have to restrict it so that recursion terms are disallowed entirely unless the function to be iterated is closed ("closed at construction"). But this prevents higher-order functions like map, which need to repeat a computation involving a variable f to be mapped over the elements of a list. The solution is to allow schematic definition of terms, using schema variables ranging over closed terms.
What this episode covers
To solve the problem raised in the last episode, I propose schematic affine recursion. We saw that affine lambda calculus (where lambda-bound variables are used at most once) plus structural recursion does not enforce termination, even if you restrict the recursor so that the function to be iterated is closed when you reduce ("closed at reduction"). You have to restrict it so that recursion terms are disallowed entirely unless the function to be iterated is closed ("closed at cons...
NOW PLAYING
Schematic Affine Recursion, Oh My!
No transcript for this episode yet
Similar Episodes
Mar 4, 2026 ·7m
Feb 22, 2026 ·9m
Feb 8, 2026 ·11m
Feb 2, 2026 ·12m
Jan 30, 2026 ·31m
Jan 29, 2026 ·39m