Classical Higher-Order Processes

Abstract

Classical Processes (CP) is a calculus where the proof theory of classical linear logic types communicating processes with mobile channels, a la pi-calculus. Its construction builds on a recent propositions as types correspondence between session types and propositions in linear logic. Desirable properties such as type preservation under reductions and progress come for free from the metatheory of linear logic. We contribute to this research line by extending CP with code mobility. We generalise classical linear logic to capture higher-order (linear) reasoning on proofs, which yields a logical reconstruction of (a variant of) the Higher-Order pi-calculus (HOpi). The resulting calculus is called Classical Higher-Order Processes (CHOP). We explore the metatheory of CHOP, proving that its semantics enjoys type preservation and progress (terms do not get stuck). We also illustrate the expressivity of CHOP through examples, derivable syntax sugar, and an extension to multiparty sessions. Lastly, we define a translation from CHOP to CP, which encodes mobility of process code into reference passing.