Simply Typed Lambda Calculus - General Observations

General Observations

Given the standard semantics, the simply typed lambda calculus is strongly normalizing: that is, well-typed terms always reduce to a value, i.e., a abstraction. This is because recursion is not allowed by the typing rules: it is impossible to find types for fixed-point combinators and the looping term . Recursion can be added to the language by either having a special operator of type or adding general recursive types, though both eliminate strong normalization.

Since it is strongly normalizing, it is decidable whether or not a simply typed lambda calculus program halts: it does! We can therefore conclude that the language is not Turing complete.