Some Programming Languages for Logspace and Ptime

We propose two characterizations of complexity classes by means of programming languages. The first concerns Logspace while the second leads to Ptime. This latter characterization shows that adding a choice command to a Ptime language (the language WHILE of Jones [1]) may not necessarily provide NPtime computations. The result is close to Cook in [2] who used “auxiliary push-down automata”. Logspace is obtained through a decidable mechanism of tiering. It is based on an analysis of deforestation due to Wadler in [3]. We get also a characterization of NLogspace.

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