A Word Sampler for Well-Typed Functions

Abstract

We describe an exact sampler for a simply-typed, first-order functional programming language. Given an acyclic finite automaton, $\hat{I}{\pm }_{\varnothing }$, it samples a random function uniformly without replacement from well-typed functions in $\mathcal{L}(\hat{I}{\pm }_{\varnothing })$. This is achieved via a fixed-parameter tractable reduction from a syntax-directed type system to a context-free grammar, preserving type soundness and completeness w.r.t. $\mathcal{L}(\hat{I}{\pm }_{\varnothing })$, while retaining the robust metatheory of formal languages.

2 pages