kevingzhang / plutus-prototype

Plutus Language Prototype

This repository implements a prototype of the Plutus language, a pure functional language with user-defined data types and polymorphism. The formal specification for this language is given in the paper "Formal Specification of the Plutus Language", and it's main content is recapitulated throughout the source code in comments, in an attempt to provide a semi-literate documentation of the code.

The implementation is split into the implementation of the Core language, which is primarily the domain of evaluation, and the use-facing Plutus proper, which is primarily the domain of useful syntax and types. The elaboration modules handle the translation of Plutus into the Core language, as well as providing, while the interface modules handle interaction with the world beyond Plutus (including a REPL and the integration tools for blockchain use).

Running the demo file

Run cabal repl, then do :m + Interface.REPL to make the REPL available, then call replFile "src/Demo.pls". This will load the file. You can now interact with a sparse little REPL:

$> not True
con[False]()

$> plus (Suc (Suc Zero)) (Suc (Suc Zero))
con[Suc](con[Suc](con[Suc](con[Suc](con[Zero]()))))

$> map not (Cons True (Cons False Nil))
con[Cons](con[False]();con[Cons](con[True]();con[Nil]()))

$> map id (Cons True (Cons False Nil))
con[Cons](con[True]();con[Cons](con[False]();con[Nil]()))

$> map (\x -> x) (Cons True (Cons False Nil))
con[Cons](con[True]();con[Cons](con[False]();con[Nil]()))

To quite the REPL, just type :quit.

To Do / Notes

NOTE: This implementation lacks primitive types and a specific built-in functions, which will be added when consensus is reached on which are desired.

• Indent/whitespace parsing
• instances: Binary, Eq, Show, NFData for Core.Term and Core.Program
• Probably: elaborate all the type signatures for declared names first, so that mutually recursive functions can be defined