principal type
The most general type of an expression. For example, the following are all valid
types for the lambda abstraction (\ x . x):
Int -> Int
Bool -> Bool
(a->b) -> (a->b)
but any valid type will be an instance of the principal type: a -> a. An
instance is derived by substituting the same type
expression for all occurences of some type variable.
The principal type of an expression can be computed
from those of its subexpressions by Robinson's
unification algorithm.
(1994-12-16)
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