Data Structure for the Parallel Execution of Functional Languages

After a short review of some data structures proposed by traditional functional languages, some requirements that a data structuring primitives should meet for suitable implementation on parallel architectures are introduces; the drawbacks of the classic list data structure are evidenced and consequently two alternative structures are proposed; the first is based on unordered collection of objects (and hereafter called bag): its formal definition is given and the non-determinism of the related primitive operators are discussed; the second, limited functions, is a way for defining fuctions over finite and countable domains: its significant implication, mainly related with parallel architectures, are described. Examples of programs based on these concepts and integrated within the framework of an existing functional language are proposed and properties abot the primitives for manipulating unordered collections of objects are stated and proved in Appendix.