A Brief Introduction to Constructive Type Theory

This paper describes a fibrational categorical semantics for the modal necessity-only fragment of constructive modal type theory, both with and without dependent types. Constructive type theory does not usually discuss logical modalities, and modalities tend to be mostly studied within classical logic, not within type theory. But modalities should be very useful in type theory, as they are very useful in modelling theoretical computing systems. Providing constructive versions of modal logics and their associated Curry-Howard modal type theories is also a very productive program, e.g. helpful when dealing with computational effects, staged computation, and functional reactive types, for example. There seems to be renewed interest in the notion of constructive modal type theory (and in notions of linear type theory), in part because of the interest in homotopy type theory. The modal type theory presented here uses dependent types, in the style of Ritter's categorical models of the Calculus of Constructions. To build up to these, we first discuss the kinds of constructive modal type theory in the literature. Then we provide a non-dependent modal type theory, introduced in previous work, that we generalize to dependent types in the following section. Dependent type theories are usually but not always given categorical semantics in terms of fibrations. We provide semantics in terms of fibrations for both the non-dependent and the dependent type systems discussed and prove them sound and complete, thereby providing evidence that the type theory is meaningful. These fibrational models should be also applicable to the homotopy type theory setting.

Quotient topologies in constructive set theory and type theory

The aim of this book is to show how constructive type theory, in the form developed by Per Martin-Löf, helps us to understand the structure of natural language. The study of similar questions within simple (=classical) type theory was inaugurated by Frege and given a standard of technical detail by Montague. The point of shifting to constructive type theory is not in the constructivist criticism against classical reasoning, but in the positive observation that constructive type theory has new things to say. Some of the problems to which grammars based on classical type theory have not found satisfactory solutions will be shown to require precisely these new things. These problems appear in a simple form in what is known, since Geach, as donkey sentences. But they are repeated in other guises, for example, in the functioning of tenses, and in a larger scale, such as in the progressive structure of texts, and in the significance of context in communication.

Taking Per Martin-Löf’s constructive type theory as a starting-point a theory of assertion is developed, which is able to account for the epistemic aspects of the speech act of assertion, and in which it is shown that assertion is not a wide genus. From a constructivist point of view, one is entitled to assert, for example, that a proposition A is true, only if one has constructed a proof object a for A in an act of demonstration. One thereby has grounded the assertion by an act of demonstration, and a grounding account of assertion therefore suits constructive type theory. Because the act of demonstration in which such a proof object is constructed results in knowledge that A is true, the constructivist account of assertion has to ward off some of the criticism directed against knowledge accounts of assertion. It is especially the internal relation between a judgement being grounded and its being known that makes it possible to do so. The grounding account of assertion can be considered as a justification account of assertion, but it also differs from justification accounts recently proposed, namely in the treatment of selfless assertions, that is, assertions which are grounded, but are not accompanied by belief.

In this article we continue the work started in [Ernesto Copello, Álvaro Tasistro, Nora Szasz, Ana Bove, and Maribel Fernández. Alpha-structural induction and recursion for the λ-calculus in constructive type theory. Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science, 323:109–124, 2016], deriving in Constructive Type Theory new induction principles for the λ-calculus, using (the historical) first order syntax with only one sort of names for both bound and free variables, and with α-conversion based upon name swapping. The principles provide a flexible framework for mimicking pen-and-paper proofs within the rigorous formal setting of a proof assistant. We here report on one successful application, namely a complete proof of the Church-Rosser Theorem. The whole development has been machine-checked using the system Agda [Ulf Norell. Towards a Practical Programming Language Based on Dependent Type Theory. PhD thesis, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, September 2007].

An intuitionistic theory of types with assumptions of high-arity variables

A Simple Nominal Type Theory

This is the first of two articles dedicated to the notion of constructive set. In them we attempt a comparison between two different notions of set which occur in the context of the foundations for constructive mathematics. We also put them under perspective by stressing analogies and differences with the notion of set as codified in the classical theory Zermelo–Fraenkel. In the current article we illustrate in some detail the notion of set as expressed in Martin–L¨of type theory and present the essential characters of this theory. In a second article we shall explore a distinct notion of set, as arising in the context of intuitionistic versions of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory. The theory we shall analyse there is Aczel’s CZF (Constructive Zermelo– Fraenkel) and we shall supplement its exposition by a succinct account of Aczel’s interpretation of CZF in type theory. This will enable us to compare the two notions in a more precise sense.

Topological inductive definitions

We give two finite axiomatizations of indexed inductive-recursive definitions in intuitionistic type theory. They extend our previous finite axiomatizations of inductive-recursive definitions of sets to indexed families of sets and encompass virtually all definitions of sets which have been used in intuitionistic type theory. The more restricted of the two axiomatization arises naturally by considering indexed inductive-recursive definitions as initial algebras in slice categories, whereas the other admits a more general and convenient form of an introduction rule.The class of indexed inductive-recursive definitions properly contains the class of indexed inductive definitions (so called “inductive families”). Such definitions are ubiquitous when using intuitionistic type theory for formalizing mathematics and program correctness. A side effect of the present paper is to get compact finite axiomatizations of indexed inductive definitions in intuitionistic type theory as special cases.Proper indexed inductive-recursive definitions (those which do not correspond to indexed inductive definitions) are useful in intuitionistic metamathematics, and as an example we formalize Tait-style computability predicates for dependent types. We also show that Palmgren’s prooftheoretically strong construction of higher-order universes is an example of a proper indexed inductive-recursive definition. A third interesting example is provided by Bove and Capretta’s definition of termination predicates for functions defined by nested recursion.Our axiomatizations form a powerful foundation for generic programming with dependent types by introducing a type of codes for indexed inductive-recursive definitions and making it possible to define generic functions by recursion on this type.KeywordsDependent type theoryMartin-Löf Type Theoryinductive definitionsinductive-recursive definitionsinductive familiesinitial algebrasnormalization proofsgeneric programming

Martin-Lof's intuitionistic type theory (ITT) can be regarded as a programming logic. Yet its data type aspect has not been much addressed. In the present paper we show how to introduce the data types in ITT in a systematic way. The main tool is data logic. Data logics are introduced in [12], which are many-sorted second order theories. For a given data type we can establish its data logic, i.e. a set of non-logical axioms, then from the axioms its rules in ITT can be obtained.

Formal constructive type theory has proved to be an effective language for mechanized proof. By avoiding non-constructive principles, such as the law of the excluded middle, type theory admits sharper proofs and broader interpretations of results. From a computer science perspective, interest in type theory arises from its applications to programming languages. Standard constructive type theories used in mechanization admit computational interpretations based on meta-mathematical normalization theorems. These proofs are notoriously brittle; any change to the theory potentially invalidates its computational meaning. As a case in point, Voevodsky's univalence axiom raises questions about the computational meaning of proofs.

We introduce a universe of regular datatypes with variable binding information, for which we define generic formation and elimination (i.e. induction /recursion) operators. We then define a generic alpha-equivalence relation over the types of the universe based on name-swapping, and derive iteration and induction principles which work modulo alpha-conversion capturing Barendregt's Variable Convention. We instantiate the resulting framework so as to obtain the Lambda Calculus and System F, for which we derive substitution operations and substitution lemmas for alpha-conversion and substitution composition. The whole work is carried out in Constructive Type Theory and machine-checked by the system Agda.

This chapter will describe the approach to formal systems for constructive mathematics initiated by Martin-Lof. Of the various systems described in this book, these systems have so far been the most used by computer scientists interested in actual implementation; this will be discussed briefly at the end of the chapter. The word “type” in the title is similar to “set”; but also similar to the “data type” of computer science. A “type” is a set which can serve as the range of a variable. The evolution of programming languages has resulted in more and more flexible and general syntax for the definition of types; Martin-Lof s systems can be viewed as another step in this direction. They can also be viewed from the logical side as a kind of restricted set theory; not just any set can be a type, but only what we have called in previous chapters a “completely presented set”.

The first example of a simultaneous inductive-recursive definition in intuitionistic type theory is Martin-Löfs universe à la Tarski. A set U0of codes for small sets is generated inductively at the same time as a function T0, which maps a code to the corresponding small set, is defined by recursion on the way the elements of U0are generated.In this paper we argue that there is an underlyinggeneralnotion of simultaneous inductive-recursive definition which is implicit in Martin-Löf's intuitionistic type theory. We extend previously given schematic formulations of inductive definitions in type theory to encompass a general notion of simultaneous induction-recursion. This enables us to give a unified treatment of several interesting constructions including various universe constructions by Palmgren, Griffor, Rathjen, and Setzer and a constructive version of Aczel's Frege structures. Consistency of a restricted version of the extension is shown by constructing a realisability model in the style of Allen.