The Heap Lambda Machine

TL;DR

The paper presents a heap-based machine architecture for lambda calculus evaluation using normal-order reduction, ensuring evaluation completeness with non-recursive algorithms and graph-based expression representation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel heap-only architecture for lambda evaluation with non-recursive algorithms and graph-based expression representation.

Findings

Guarantees evaluation of lambda expressions with normal-order reduction

Uses only heap memory for expression storage and processing

Employs non-recursive algorithms for evaluation

Abstract

This paper introduces a new machine architecture for evaluating lambda expressions using the normal-order reduction, which guarantees that every lambda expression will be evaluated if the expression has its normal form and the system has enough memory. The architecture considered here operates using heap memory only. Lambda expressions are represented as graphs, and all algorithms used in the processing unit of this machine are non-recursive.