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Documents authored by Stadelmeier, Andreas

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ECOOP.2026.26
A Variation on Java Wildcards - Trading Expressiveness for Global Type Inference

Authors: Andreas Stadelmeier, Martin Plümicke, and Peter Thiemann

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 372, 40th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 2026)

Abstract
In standard Java, wildcards behave like existential types: they must be opened before use in a method invocation, a process the compiler performs implicitly via capture conversion. We present Java-TX, a dialect of Java that sidesteps this existential encoding and treats wildcards as placeholders for unknown types, used directly without prior opening. This choice simplifies the type system and makes it compatible with an existing global type inference algorithm. The trade-off is that some method calls valid in standard Java become unavailable in Java-TX. In effect, we trade some of Java’s wildcard expressiveness for global type inference. We explore the metatheory of Java-TX through Featherweight Java-TX (FJ-TX), a functional core calculus for Java-TX that extends Featherweight Generic Java with our wildcard interpretation. We prove type soundness for FJ-TX. Finally, we evaluate the practical impact of omitting capture conversion by conducting a study on open-source Java projects by calculating an underapproximation of how much existing Java code is compatible with the Java-TX type system.
Cite as

Andreas Stadelmeier, Martin Plümicke, and Peter Thiemann. A Variation on Java Wildcards - Trading Expressiveness for Global Type Inference. In 40th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 372, pp. 26:1-26:27, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{stadelmeier_et_al:LIPIcs.ECOOP.2026.26,
  author =	{Stadelmeier, Andreas and Pl\"{u}micke, Martin and Thiemann, Peter},
  title =	{{A Variation on Java Wildcards - Trading Expressiveness for Global Type Inference}},
  booktitle =	{40th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 2026)},
  pages =	{26:1--26:27},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-423-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{372},
  editor =	{Krebbers, Robbert and Silva, Alexandra},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ECOOP.2026.26},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-261229},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ECOOP.2026.26},
  annote =	{Keywords: type inference, Java, subtyping, wildcards, capture conversion}
}
Document
Artifact
DOI: 10.4230/DARTS.8.2.18
Global Type Inference for Featherweight Generic Java - Prototype Implementation (Artifact)

Authors: Andreas Stadelmeier, Martin Plümicke, and Peter Thiemann

Published in: DARTS, Volume 8, Issue 2, Special Issue of the 36th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 2022)

Abstract
We implemented a prototype of the type inference algorithm described in the paper "Global Type Inference for Featherweight Generic Java". Our type inference algorithm for Featherweight Generic Java (GFJ) is able to calculate the missing types in a Typeless Featherweight Generic Java (FGJ-GT) program. Inserting those types generates a valid GFJ program. We demonstrate this with a prototype implementation. The prototype is a web application which accepts GFJ-GT programs as input and shows the respective GFJ program after the type inference.
Cite as

Andreas Stadelmeier, Martin Plümicke, and Peter Thiemann. Global Type Inference for Featherweight Generic Java - Prototype Implementation (Artifact). In Special Issue of the 36th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 2022). Dagstuhl Artifacts Series (DARTS), Volume 8, Issue 2, pp. 18:1-18:4, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@Article{stadelmeier_et_al:DARTS.8.2.18,
  author =	{Stadelmeier, Andreas and Pl\"{u}micke, Martin and Thiemann, Peter},
  title =	{{Global Type Inference for Featherweight Generic Java - Prototype Implementation (Artifact)}},
  pages =	{18:1--18:4},
  journal =	{Dagstuhl Artifacts Series},
  ISSN =	{2509-8195},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{8},
  number =	{2},
  editor =	{Stadelmeier, Andreas and Pl\"{u}micke, Martin and Thiemann, Peter},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/DARTS.8.2.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-162165},
  doi =		{10.4230/DARTS.8.2.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: type inference, Java, subtyping, generics}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ECOOP.2022.28
Global Type Inference for Featherweight Generic Java

Authors: Andreas Stadelmeier, Martin Plümicke, and Peter Thiemann

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 222, 36th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 2022)

Abstract
Java’s type system mostly relies on type checking augmented with local type inference to improve programmer convenience. We study global type inference for Featherweight Generic Java (FGJ), a functional Java core language. Given generic class headers and field specifications, our inference algorithm infers all method types if classes do not make use of polymorphic recursion. The algorithm is constraint-based and improves on prior work in several respects. Despite the restricted setting, global type inference for FGJ is NP-complete.
Cite as

Andreas Stadelmeier, Martin Plümicke, and Peter Thiemann. Global Type Inference for Featherweight Generic Java. In 36th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 222, pp. 28:1-28:27, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{stadelmeier_et_al:LIPIcs.ECOOP.2022.28,
  author =	{Stadelmeier, Andreas and Pl\"{u}micke, Martin and Thiemann, Peter},
  title =	{{Global Type Inference for Featherweight Generic Java}},
  booktitle =	{36th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 2022)},
  pages =	{28:1--28:27},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-225-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{222},
  editor =	{Ali, Karim and Vitek, Jan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ECOOP.2022.28},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-162560},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ECOOP.2022.28},
  annote =	{Keywords: type inference, Java, subtyping, generics}
}
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