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The Datalog implementation in Racket is neat, but does not support stratified negation nor are the Datalog constraint first-class. Both features make it signifi

The Datalog implementation in Racket is neat, but does not support stratified negation nor are the Datalog constraint first-class. Both features make it significantly more practical to work with Datalog. Also, the Flix type system ensures - at compile-time - that all first-class Datalog values constructed at run-time are stratified. The effect system in Flix is focused on a single effect: purity. It is very fine-grained (compared to e.g. systems based on rows) and it supports effect inference and effect polymorphism. Eff and Unison have richer effect systems - based on algebraic effects - which allow re-interpretation of effects. However these effects system struggle more with effect inference. For example, I believe that in Eff you only have a restricted form of effect polymorphism / the use of higher-order functions is more limited. (I am one of the authors of Flix)

the-smug-one 6y ago
> Also, the Flix type system ensures - at compile-time - that all first-class Datalog values constructed at run-time are stratified. That does sound powerful! To be honest I have no idea what the implications of that are - but I guess that's why it's research! Re: effect system. The reason that I think algebraic effects are so cool is that they allow for trackable, side-effectful, and powerful abstractions. To me it sounds like Flix's Pure/Impure effects offer a fine-grained form of taint tracking. Why do you think I should be excited about this? For example, why not Haskell's monad solution? I hope I don't come off as confrontational, I'm genuinely interested :-).
- jorkadeen 6y ago
  I think you would want both: algebraic effects and very fine-grained effect reasoning. For example, in all most all languages it is vital that functions such as "equal" and "hash" are pure. It is an open problem how to combine our fine-grained Boolean unification-based effect system with other algebraic effect systems (e.g. row polymorphic ones). I hope the future will tell :)

the-smug-one 6y ago

> Also, the Flix type system ensures - at compile-time - that all first-class Datalog values constructed at run-time are stratified. That does sound powerful! To be honest I have no idea what the implications of that are - but I guess that's why it's research! Re: effect system. The reason that I think algebraic effects are so cool is that they allow for trackable, side-effectful, and powerful abstractions. To me it sounds like Flix's Pure/Impure effects offer a fine-grained form of taint tracking. Why do you think I should be excited about this? For example, why not Haskell's monad solution? I hope I don't come off as confrontational, I'm genuinely interested :-).

jorkadeen 6y ago
I think you would want both: algebraic effects and very fine-grained effect reasoning. For example, in all most all languages it is vital that functions such as "equal" and "hash" are pure. It is an open problem how to combine our fine-grained Boolean unification-based effect system with other algebraic effect systems (e.g. row polymorphic ones). I hope the future will tell :)