Giuseppe Castagna

Giuseppe Castagna

CNRS - Université Paris Cité

Giuseppe Castagna received a PhD degree in theoretical computer science from the University Paris 7 on January 1994. The same year he was appointed research scientist of CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) and posted in the Computer Science Laboratory of the École Normale Supérieure de Paris. In 2001 he starts the “Programming Languages” group in École Normale Supérieure that he leads till fall 2006, when he is appointed senior research scientist of CNRS and posted the Institut de Recherche en Informatique Fondamentale (IRIF: Research Institute on the Foundations of Computer Science) of University Paris Diderot. He was deputy director of IRIF from 2018 to 2022 and director of the institute since January 2023.

His main research contributions are in the design and definition of typed programming languages.

Talk:
Bringing Types to Elixir

I propose a talk on my PhD research on introducing a type system to Elixir. This talk will focus on set-theoretic types, and how they are uniquely suited to represent Elixir programs. I will discuss the potential benefits of a type system designed for Elixir, such as detecting common bugs and providing direct feedback on code quality.

In addition to exploring the use of types to describe and enforce function interfaces, I will provide examples of new syntax for types that could be added to the language. I will delve into the concept of gradual typing, and its ability to mix typed and untyped code, as well as ease the optional transition of existing codebases towards types.

I will share my perspective on the project, the challenges we have faced in collaboration with Giuseppe Castagna and José Valim, and the current state of the work.

Talk objectives:

  • In this talk, we aim to showcase the potential benefits of a type system for Elixir, with practical examples of its use. We believe that a carefully designed type system can bring significant advantages to Elixir with little or no downsides. We would welcome feedback on this perspective, as well as on the changes and features we plan to introduce to the language.

Target audience:

  • Every Elixir programmer.