Jack Liell-Cock

dblp:274/1543 · DBLP profile ↗
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4ranked-venue papers
3as first author
4since 2021 · last 2026
0009-0005-7121-8095ORCID · verified

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Software engineering, systems software and programming languages · 4 · 3 first-author · 4 since 2021
YearPublicationVenuePosition
2026 An Equational Axiomatization of Dynamic Threads via Algebraic Effects: Presheaves on Finite Relations, Labelled Posets, and Parameterized Algebraic Theories
abstract
We use the theory of algebraic effects to give a complete equational axiomatization for dynamic threads. Our method is based on parameterized algebraic theories, which give a concrete syntax for strong monads on functor categories, and are a convenient framework for names and binding. Our programs are built from the key primitives ‘fork’ and ‘wait’. ‘Fork’ creates a child thread and passes its name (thread ID) to the parent thread. ‘Wait’ allows us to wait for given child threads to finish. We provide a parameterized algebraic theory built from fork and wait, together with basic atomic actions and laws such as associativity of ‘fork’. Our equational axiomatization is complete in two senses. First, for closed expressions, it completely captures equality of labelled posets (pomsets), an established model of concurrency: model complete. Second, any two open expressions are provably equal if they are equal under all closing substitutions: syntactically complete. The benefit of algebraic effects is that the semantic analysis can focus on the algebraic operations of fork and wait. We then extend the analysis to a simple concurrent programming language by giving operational and denotational semantics. The denotational semantics is built using the methods of parameterized algebraic theories and we show that it is sound, adequate, and fully abstract at first order for labelled-poset observations.
Ohad Kammar, Jack Liell-Cock, Sam Lindley, Cristina Matache, Sam Staton
Proc. ACM Program. Lang.2
2026 Imprecise Probabilistic Programming, Precisely: Credal Sets via Graded Monads, BDDs, and Semiring-Parametric Inference (Functional Pearl)
abstract
Imprecise probability generalizes standard probability theory by replacing a single distribution with a convex set of possible distributions. We show that this generalization requires no change to the standard BDD compilation and weighted model counting pipeline used by discrete probabilistic languages. An imprecise coin flip is simply a BDD variable whose weight is left free rather than fixed. We introduce Imp, a Haskell-embedded DSL for imprecise probabilistic programming. A graded monad, indexed by finite sets of named sources of epistemic uncertainty, restores the commutativity that the standard convex powerset monad lacks, and GHC's type system enforces this at compile time. Weighted model counting is parametric in the semiring, so the same compiled BDD supports exact, differentiable, and interval-bounded inference.
Jack Liell-Cock, Sam Staton
Proc. ACM Program. Lang.1
2026 The Relative Monadic Metalanguage
abstract
Relative monads provide a controlled view of computation. We generalise the monadic metalanguage to a relative setting and give a complete semantics with strong relative monads. Adopting this perspective, we generalise two existing program calculi from the literature. We provide a linear-non-linear language for graded monads, LNL-RMM, along with a semantic proof that it is a conservative extension of the graded monadic metalanguage. Additionally, we provide a complete semantics for the arrow calculus, showing it is a restricted relative monadic metalanguage. This motivates the introduction of ARMM, a computational lambda calculus-style language for arrows that conservatively extends the arrow calculus.
Jack Liell-Cock, Zev Shirazi, Sam Staton
Proc. ACM Program. Lang.1
2025 Compositional Imprecise Probability: A Solution from Graded Monads and Markov Categories
abstract
Imprecise probability is concerned with uncertainty about which probability distributions to use. It has applications in robust statistics and machine learning. We look at programming language models for imprecise probability. Our desiderata are that we would like our model to support all kinds of composition, categorical and monoidal; in other words, guided by dataflow diagrams. Another equivalent perspective is that we would like a model of synthetic probability in the sense of Markov categories. Imprecise probability can be modelled in various ways, with the leading monad-based approach using convex sets of probability distributions. This model is not fully compositional because the monad involved is not commutative, meaning it does not have a proper monoidal structure. In this work, we provide a new fully compositional account. The key idea is to name the non-deterministic choices. To manage the renamings and disjointness of names, we use graded monads. We show that the resulting compositional model is maximal and relate it with the earlier monadic approach, proving that we obtain tighter bounds on the uncertainty.
Jack Liell-Cock, Sam Staton
Proc. ACM Program. Lang.1