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Scope Graphs: The Story so Far

Authors Aron Zwaan , Hendrik van Antwerpen

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Aron Zwaan
  • Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
Hendrik van Antwerpen
  • GitHub, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Acknowledgements

We thank Casper Bach Poulsen, Douglas A. Creager, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments to improve this paper.

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Aron Zwaan and Hendrik van Antwerpen. Scope Graphs: The Story so Far. In Eelco Visser Commemorative Symposium (EVCS 2023). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 109, pp. 32:1-32:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)
https://doi.org/10.4230/OASIcs.EVCS.2023.32

Abstract

Static name binding (i.e., associating references with appropriate declarations) is an essential aspect of programming languages. However, it is usually treated in an unprincipled manner, often leaving a gap between formalization and implementation. The scope graph formalism mitigates these deficiencies by providing a well-defined, first-class, language-parametric representation of name binding. Scope graphs serve as a foundation for deriving type checkers from declarative type system specifications, reasoning about type soundness, and implementing editor services and refactorings. In this paper we present an overview of scope graphs, and, using examples, show how the ideas and notation of the formalism have evolved. We also briefly discuss follow-up research beyond type checking, and evaluate the formalism.

Subject Classification

ACM Subject Classification
  • Theory of computation → Program semantics
  • Theory of computation → Program specifications
  • Theory of computation → Program analysis
Keywords
  • scope graph
  • name binding
  • reference resolution
  • type system
  • static semantics

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