Higher-Order and Symbolic Computation is an international journal that presents a broad-spectrum forum for results and ideas concerning programming with higher-order and symbolic facilities: first-class functions and continuations, effects and higher-order types, objects, actors, and programs as data. Papers ranging from theory and design to practice and experience and especially about theory used in practice are welcomed, as well as occasional expository papers. The aim is to promote the exchange of ideas and synergy amongst researchers with a wide range of interests and expertise.

Key subject areas and topics covered in the journal include:

Functional programming with effects;
Object-oriented programming;
Parallel, concurrent, distributed, and mobile symbolic and functional computation;
Programming concepts and abstractions - data abstraction, lazy evaluation, infinite data objects, self reference, reflection, continuations, components, generic functions, inheritance, encapsulation, protection, persistence, meta-objects, communication protocols, etc.;
Programming language theory - semantics, specifying and reasoning about programs, programming logics, types and type inference;
Semantics based program manipulation - compilation, analysis, partial evaluation, instrumentation, and other program transformations;
Implementations and techniques - specialized architectures, compiler design, combinatory models, garbage collection, storage management, and performance analysis;
Programming environments and tools - knowledge-based programming tools, artificial intelligence tools, monitoring, and debugging tools;
Applications and experience with symbolic computing in the context of real time programming, window systems, user interfaces, operating systems, object-oriented programming, and parallel/distributed computing.