A verified framework for higher-order uncurrying optimizations

International audienceFunction uncurrying is an important optimization for the efficient execution of functional programming languages. This optimization replaces curried functions by uncur-ried, multiple-argument functions, while preserving the ability to evaluate partial applications. First-order uncurrying (where curried functions are optimized only in the static scopes of their definitions) is well understood and implemented by many compilers, but its extension to higher-order functions (where uncurrying can also be performed on parameters and results of higher-order functions) is challenging. This article develops a generic framework that expresses higher-order uncurrying optimizations as type-directed insertion of coercions, and prove its correctness. The proof uses step-indexed logical relations and was entirely mechanized using the Coq proof assistant