We will examine the Julia programming language using formal programming language theory, attempting to characterize its features and behaviors in terms of existing formalism. Additionally, we will consider how ideas from PL theory could manifest themselves in future versions of Julia.
How are "static typing" and "dynamic typing" related, and how could we use both to our advantage? Are there ways we can avoid the performance penalty associated with dynamic dispatch? Is it possible to make certain classes of bugs impossible to make, before even letting the code run? In this talk, we view the Julia language through the lens of programming language theory, considering these and other questions in terms of the current version of Julia and directions future versions could venture towards.