Interactive Functional Programs: a Method and a Formal Semantics

In this paper we present a model of interactive programs in a purely

functional style. We exploit lazy evaluation in the modelling of streams

as lazy lists. We show how programs may be constructed in an ad hoc

way, and then present a small set of interactions and combinators which

form the basis for a disciplined approach to writing such programs.

One of the difficulties of the ad hoc approach is that the way in which

input and output are interleaved by the functions can be unpredictable.

In the second half of the paper we use traces, i.e. partial histories of

behaviour, to explain the interleaving of input and output, and give a

formal explanation of our combinators. We argue that this justifies our

claim that the combinators have the intuitively expected behaviour, and

finally contrast our approach with another.