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Symposium on Implementation and Application of Functional Languages

IFL 1996: Implementation of Functional Languages pp 1–20Cite as

Introducing CLOVER: An object-oriented functional language

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1268))

Abstract

The search for a language which combines both functional and object-oriented features has a long and distinguished history [Can82, Car84, BK86, BD88, BGW91, MHH91, AP93, CL91, MMH91, Sar93, CL96]. The aim is to integrate the formal methods benefits of functional programming with the software engineering benefits of both paradigms. However, to date we know of no language which can claim to be both purely functional and purely object-oriented (and retains complete type safety). We present CLOVER, a new language which is 100% functional and 99% object-oriented. It is also completely type safe. We explain the design issues and how CLOVER achieves its aim. We also explain the “missing” 1%, discuss its relevance, and illustrate how its loss can be extenuated through the use of a new visual programming notation.

During the course of this work, Lee Braine was supported by an EPSRC research studentship and a CASE award from Andersen Consulting.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University College London, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT, London, UK

    Lee Braine & Chris Clack

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  1. Lee Braine
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  2. Chris Clack
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Werner Kluge

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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Braine, L., Clack, C. (1997). Introducing CLOVER: An object-oriented functional language. In: Kluge, W. (eds) Implementation of Functional Languages. IFL 1996. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1268. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-63237-9_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-63237-9_16

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-63237-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69239-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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