Generic Reduction-Based Interpreters (Extended Version)

Abstract

Reduction-based interpreters are traditionally defined in terms of a one-step reduction function which systematically decomposes a term into a potential redex and context, contracts the redex, and recomposes it to construct the new term to be further reduced. While implementing such interpreters follows a systematic recipe, they often require interpreter engineers to write a substantial amount of code -- much of it boilerplate. In this paper, we apply well-known techniques from generic programming to reduce boilerplate code in reduction-based interpreters.