A polymorphic RPC calculus

The RPC calculus is a simple semantic foundation for multi-tier programming languages such as Links in which located functions can be written for the client-server model. Subsequently, the typed RPC calculus is designed to capture the location information of functions by types and to drive location type-directed slicing compilations. However, the use of locations is currently limited to monomorphic ones, which is one of the gaps to overcome to put into practice the theory of RPC calculi for client-server model. This paper proposes a polymorphic RPC calculus to allow programmers to write succinct multi-tier programs using polymorphic location constructs. Then the polymorphic multi-tier programs can be automatically translated into programs only containing location constants amenable to the existing slicing compilation methods. We formulate a type system for the polymorphic RPC calculus, and prove its type soundness. Also, we design a monomorphization translation together with proofs on its type and semantic correctness for the translation. •This paper proposed a polymorphic RPC calculus for writing succinct multi-tier programs using polymorphic locations.•The existing slicing compilation methods for client-server model can be reused after the monomorphization translation.•For the polymorphic RPC calculus, we formulated the type system, and proved its type soundness.•We designed the monomorphization translation together with proofs on its type and semantic correctness for the translation.