linear type

1. theory, programming An attribute of values which are used

exactly once: they are neither duplicated nor destroyed. Such

values require no garbage collection, and can safely be

updated in place, even if they form part of a data structure.

Linear types are related to the linear logic of J.-Y Girard.

They extend Schmidt's notion of single threading, provide an

alternative to Hudak and Bloss' update analysis, and offer a

practical complement to Lafont and Holmstrom's elegant linearlanguages.

['Use-Once' Variables and Linear Objects - Storage Management,

Reflection and Multi-Threading, Henry Baker.

].

["Linear types can change the world!", Philip Wadler,

"Programming Concepts and Methods", April 1990, eds. M. Broy,

C. Jones, pub. North-Holland, IFIP TC2 Working Conference on

Programming Concepts and Methods, Sea of Galilee, Israel].

(1995-03-03)