Simon J. Gay

Session types are type-theoretic specifications of communication protocols in concurrent or distributed systems. By codifying the structure of communication, they make software more reliable and easier to construct. Over recent decades, the topic has become a large and active research area within the field of programming language theory and implementation. Written by leading researchers in the field, this is the first text to provide a comprehensive introduction to the key concepts of session types. The thorough theoretical treatment is complemented by examples and exercises, suitable for use in a lecture course or for self-study. It serves as an entry point to the topic for graduate students and researchers.

A recent trend in programming language research is to use behavioral type theory to ensure various correctness properties of large-scale, communication-intensive systems. Behavioral types encompass concepts such as interfaces, communication protocols, contracts, and choreography. The successful application of behavioral types requires a solid understanding of several practical aspects, from their representation in a concrete programming language, to their integration with other programming constructs such as methods and functions, to design and monitoring methodologies that take behaviors into account.Behavioral Types in Programming Languages provides the reader with the first comprehensive overview of the state of the art of these practical aspects, which are summarized as the pragmatics of behavioral types. Each section covers a particular programming paradigm or methodology, providing an ideal reference for programming languages researchers interested the topic, and in identifying the areas as yet unexplored.