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authorericmarin <maarin.eric@gmail.com>2026-06-19 22:57:09 +0200
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\section{Interaction Nets}
\label{sec:interaction-nets}
-% This section introduces Interaction Nets
+Interaction Nets, introduced by Yves Lafont et al.~\cite{lafont1990interactionnets}, are a
+graphical model of computation based on graph rewriting.
+
+\subsection{Basic Concepts}
+An interaction net is an undirected graph with labelled vertices, called \textit{agents}. Each agent
+is an instance of a \textit{symbol}, which has a principal port and a fixed number of auxiliary ports:
+\begin{figure}[H]
+ \centering
+ \begin{tikzpicture}
+ \inetcell[arity=2](A){\textit{Add}}[90]
+ \inetwirefree(A.pax 1) \inetwirefree(A.pax 2) \inetwirefree(A.pal)
+ \node[left] at (A.above pax 1) {$\mathit{z}$};
+ \node[left] at (A.above pax 2) {$\mathit{y}$};
+ \node[right] at (A.above pal) {$\mathit{x}$};
+ \end{tikzpicture}
+ \caption{Example of an agent \textit{Add} with two auxiliary ports.}
+ \label{fig:agent}
+\end{figure}
+
+Each port can be wired to at most one other port. When two different agents are wired to their respective principal ports they are called an \textit{active pair}:
+
+\begin{figure}[H]
+ \centering
+ \begin{tikzpicture}
+ \inetcell[arity=2](A){\textit{Add}}[90]
+ \inetcell[arity=1, right=of A.pal](S){\textit{S}}[-90]
+ \inetwire(A.pal)(S.pal)
+ \inetwirefree(A.pax 1) \inetwirefree(A.pax 2) \inetwirefree(S.pax)
+ \node[left] at (A.above pax 1) {$\mathit{z}$};
+ \node[left] at (A.above pax 2) {$\mathit{y}$};
+ \node[right] at (S.above pax) {$\mathit{x}$};
+ \end{tikzpicture}
+ \caption{Example of an active pair, where a $\mathit{Add}$ agent and an $\mathit{S}$ agent are connected via their principal ports.}
+ \label{fig:active-pair}
+\end{figure}
+
+\subsection{Interaction Rules}
+Computation in interaction nets proceeds by rewriting the net using local \emph{interaction rules}. A rule
+is defined only for an active pair and, for any pair of agent types, there is at most one
+interaction rule.
+
+\begin{figure}[H]
+ \centering
+ \interactionrule{
+ \inetcell[arity=2](A){\textit{Add}}[90]
+ \inetcell[arity=1, right=of A.pal](S){\textit{S}}[-90]
+ \inetwire(A.pal)(S.pal)
+ \inetwirefree(A.pax 1) \inetwirefree(A.pax 2) \inetwirefree(S.pax)
+ \node[left] at (A.above pax 1) {$\mathit{z}$};
+ \node[left] at (A.above pax 2) {$\mathit{y}$};
+ \node[right] at (S.above pax) {$\mathit{x}$};
+ }{
+ \inetcell[arity=2](A){\textit{Add}}[90]
+ \inetcell[arity=1, left=of A.pax 1](S){\textit{S}}[-90]
+ \inetwire(A.pax 1)(S.pax)
+ \inetwirefree(A.pal) \inetwirefree(A.pax 2) \inetwirefree(S.pal)
+ \node[right] at (A.above pal) {$\mathit{x}$};
+ \node[left] at (A.above pax 2) {$\mathit{y}$};
+ \node[left] at (S.above pal) {$\mathit{z}$};
+ }
+ \caption{Interaction rule for $\mathit{S}$ and $\mathit{Add}$ that emulates Peano addition rule.}
+ \label{fig:rule-concrete-zero}
+\end{figure}
+
+\subsection{Properties}
+Interaction nets possess the following properties:
+\begin{itemize}
+ \item \textbf{Locality}: only active pairs can be rewritten.
+ \item \textbf{Linearity}: each interaction rule can be applied in constant time.
+ \item \textbf{Strong Confluence}: given a net $\text{IN}$ that can reduce to $\text{IN}_1$ and $\text{IN}_2$ in one
+ step, then both $\text{IN}_1$ and $\text{IN}_2$ reduce to some net $\text{IN}'$ in one step.
+\end{itemize}