Full abstraction for Reduced ML

Abstract

We present the first effectively presentable fully abstract model for Stark's Reduced ML, a call-by-value higher-order programming language featuring integer-valued references. The model is constructed using techniques of nominal game semantics. Its distinctive feature is the presence of carefully restricted information about the store in plays, combined with conditions concerning the participants' ability to distinguish reference names. We show how it leads to an explicit characterization of program equivalence. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.