Another Type Inference Algorithm for First-Class Implicit Polymorphism

We propose yet another approach to type inference with first-class implicit polymorphism, based on the interleaving of an Algorithm M-style constraint-generating elaboration of terms and a solver for the generated constraints. The novelty of our approach is that types include explicit syntactic representations of unknown polymorphic types during type inference. Solving unification constraints with unknown polymorphic types also computes type arguments for the elaborated terms. The resulting system is uniform, simple, extends to support domain-specific constraints, and compares favorably with other approaches to first-class implicit polymorphism.

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Publication Details

Journal
Proceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages
Published
2026-08-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1145/3828702
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Logic, programming, and type systems
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
7.25

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article

Another Type Inference Algorithm for First-Class Implicit Polymorphism

J. Garrett Morris
1 citations
Proceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages
Logic, programming, and type systems
7.25
article

Another Type Inference Algorithm for First-Class Implicit Polymorphism

J. Garrett Morris
article en
1 citations

Abstract

We propose yet another approach to type inference with first-class implicit polymorphism, based on the interleaving of an Algorithm M-style constraint-generating elaboration of terms and a solver for the generated constraints. The novelty of our approach is that types include explicit syntactic representations of unknown polymorphic types during type inference. Solving unification constraints with unknown polymorphic types also computes type arguments for the elaborated terms. The resulting system is uniform, simple, extends to support domain-specific constraints, and compares favorably with other approaches to first-class implicit polymorphism.

Proceedings of the ACM on Programming LanguagesVol. 10(ICFP)
University of Iowa (US)
National Science Foundation
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Logic, programming, and type systems
7.25
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