[fadmmatt]

For anyone that uses an ML (e.g. OCaml), Haskell or Scala, Milner was responsible for the Hindley-Milner type system and inference algorithm that sits at the foundation of these languages.

It ignited a wave of research into type theory that continues to this day, yet in many ways, Hindley-Milner is still the most significant contribution to the field.

I remember reading his original paper on polymorphic typing for my qualifiers and being struck by the elegance and approachability of his writing.

Well worth a read.

[j_baker]

Any chance you could post some info about the paper? I've been itching to learn more about how type inferencing (especially polymorphic type inferencing) works.

EDIT: I don't know if it's the paper you were referring to, but I did find this: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/pag/6.883/readings/p207-damas.pd...

[fadmmatt]

Milner, Robin (1978), "A Theory of Type Polymorphism in Programming", Jcss 17: 348–375

I don't know if there's a free copy online anywhere.

The Damas-Milner paper is the sequel; it presents an alternate algorithm for type inference.

Benjamin Pierce's "Orange Book" is one of the best references now.

[baguasquirrel]

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=A+Theory+of+Type+Polymor...

First link.