Speaker: Ross Duncan, University of Strathclyde

Time and location: 15:15, EM 3.07

Abstract:

Diagrams are widely used in science and engineering; well known examples
include electronic circuit diagrams, Feynman diagrams, proof-nets, petri-nets,
and countless others. All these diagrams share the same basic features because
they are all presentations of monoidal categories — one of the most commonly
encountered structures in mathematics. String diagrams are a formal syntax
for monoidal categories which takes into account their two-dimensional nature,
and are especially well suited to theories where sequential and parallel
composition interact (or which feature both algebraic and coalgebraic
operations). In this talk I’ll present some preliminary work towards theory of
programming with string diagrams — namely I’ll look at how substitution and
pattern matching can be defined on top of string diagrams. The putting both
together results in a computad of diagram transformations.