Continuations for All - Language Design Considerations for Accessible Continuations

Explore language design considerations for making continuations more accessible to programming beginners in this 24-minute conference presentation from SPLASH-E 2025. Learn how researchers Youyou Cong, Filip Strömbäck, and Kazuki Ikemori from Institute of Science Tokyo and Linköping University developed Pyret-cont, a pedagogical programming language designed to improve the learning experience of continuations, particularly delimited continuations. Discover insights from their graduate course teaching experience focused on continuations and understand how their beginner-friendly approach to continuation support can benefit both developers implementing continuation features and educators teaching these advanced programming concepts. The presentation covers delimited continuations, control operators, effect handlers, and stepper functionality, providing valuable perspectives for making complex programming language concepts more approachable for learners at all levels.