Some Lambda Calculus and Type Theory Formalized

We survey a substantial body of knowledge about lambda calculus and Pure Type Systems, formally developed in a constructive type theory using the LEGO proof system. On lambda calculus, we work up to an abstract, simplified proof of standardization for beta reduction that does not mention redex positions or residuals. Then we outline the meta theory of Pure Type Systems, leading to the strengthening lemma. One novelty is our use of named variables for the formalization. Along the way we point out what we feel has been learned about general issues of formalizing mathematics, emphasizing the search for formal definitions that are convenient for formal proof and convincingly represent the intended informal concepts.

We study a cost-aware programming language for higher-order recursion dubbed $\textbf{PCF}_\mathsf{cost}$ in the setting of synthetic domain theory (SDT). Our main contribution relates the denotational cost semantics of $\textbf{PCF}_\mathsf{cost}$ to its computational cost semantics, a new kind of dynamic semantics for program execution that serves as a mathematically natural alternative to operational semantics in SDT. In particular we prove an internal, cost-sensitive version of Plotkin's computational adequacy theorem, giving a precise correspondence between the denotational and computational semantics for complete programs at base type. The constructions and proofs of this paper take place in the internal dependent type theory of an SDT topos extended by a phase distinction in the sense of Sterling and Harper. By controlling the interpretation of cost structure via the phase distinction in the denotational semantics, we show that $\textbf{PCF}_\mathsf{cost}$ programs also evince a noninterference property of cost and behavior. We verify the axioms of the type theory by means of a model construction based on relative sheaf models of SDT.Comment: Final version for MFPS '24

Proof assistants are getting more widespread use in research and industry to provide certified and independently checkable guarantees about theories, designs, systems and implementations. However, proof assistant implementations themselves are seldom verified, although they take a major share of the trusted code base in any such certification effort. In this area, proof assistants based on Higher-Order Logic enjoy stronger guarantees, as self-certified implementations have been available for some years. One cause of this difference is the inherent complexity of dependent type theories together with their extensions with inductive types, universe polymorphism and complex sort systems, and the gap between theory on paper and practical implementations in efficient programming languages. MetaCoq is a collaborative project that aims to tackle these difficulties to provide the first fully-certified realistic implementation of a type checker for the full calculus underlying the Coq proof assistant. To achieve this, we refined the sometimes blurry, if not incorrect, specification and implementation of the system. We show how theoretical tools from this community such as bidirectional type-checking, Tait-Martin-L\"of/Takahashi's confluence proof technique and monadic and dependently-typed programming can help construct the following artefacts: a specification of Coq's syntax and type theory, the Polymorphic Cumulative Calculus of (Co)-Inductive Constructions (PCUIC); a monad for the manipulation of raw syntax and interaction with the Coq system; a verification of PCUIC's metatheory, whose main results are the confluence of reduction, type preservation and principality of typing; a realistic, correct and complete type-checker for PCUIC; a sound type and proof erasure procedure from PCUIC to untyped lambda-calculus, i.e., the core of the extraction mechanism of Coq.

Recent innovation in the design of type theories—foundational systems of mathematics with a focus on constructivity—has produced the concept of interval variable, which can be used to capture relations between objects that carry computational content. We examine two such relationships in type theory: equality, in particularquotients, and arbitrary relations as applied in parametricity interpretations. Cubical type theory, a system using an interval-based formulation of equality, enables a permissive kind of content-carrying equality that includes in particularisomorphism. Cubical type theory provides a constructive interpretation of homotopy type theory and the Univalent Foundations, formalisms that introduced the idea of isomorphism as equality but which lack intrinsic computational meaning. The cubical approach to equality also rectifies long-standing deficiencies in the behavior ofquotients in type theory. We realize a system of generalized quotients for cubical type theory originally conceived in homotopy type theory, called higher inductive types, that merges the concepts of inductive type and quotient. Such a mutual generalization is particularly essential in the contentful equality setting, but also has significant applications to ordinary mathematics. Parametricity is, among other things, a proof technique for deriving propertiesof constructions performed in type theories, based on the idea that constructions preserve all relations between objects. Traditionally a meta-theoretical tool, recentwork has shown that parametricity properties can be integrated into a type theory itself using an interval-based system. We develop internal parametricity on top ofcubical type theory, examining the similarities and distinctions between the two applications of intervals, finding that a background of cubical equality improves thebehavior of internal parametricity, and applying internal parametricity as a tool to solve difficult problems in cubical type theory. We introduce a system of cohesionmodalities to express the interaction between parametric and non-parametric type theory, enabling the use of parametricity results in a non-parametric setting.

Categorial Grammar and logical Type Theory stem from the same historical source, viz. the Fregean and Russellian idea of a pervasive function/ argument structure in Language. Nevertheless, the two fields have developed in quite different ways, one becoming a more linguistic enterprise, the other a more mathematical one. (For the former, see Bach et al., 1986, Buszkowski et al., 1986 — for the latter, Gallin 1975, Barendregt, 1981.) Even so, there is also a more theoretical logical component to Categorial Grammar, which has been studied recently by various authors (cf. Buszkowski, 1982, Dosen, 1986, van Benthem, 1986a,e). And in that direction, various connections have emerged with research in Type Theory and Lambda Calculus — exploiting analogies between categorial grammars, Gentzen calculi for implication and fragments of typed lambda-languages. In this paper, we shall survey this development, adding various new results on definability and preservation.

Constructs that involve taking a quotient are commonplace in mathematics. Here I will consider how they are treated within dependent type theory. The notion of quotient type has its origins in the Nuprl theorem-proving system [R. L. Constable et al., 1986] for extensional type theory. Later Hofmann formulated a version for intensional type theory in his thesis [M. Hofmann, 1995]. This depends on having a pre-existing notion of intensional identity type. Hofmann used Martin-Löf’s notion, the indexed family inductively generated from proofs of reflexivity [B. Nordström et al., 1990]. The recent homotopical view of identity in terms of path types [The Univalent Foundations Program, 2013] gives a more liberal perspective and has brought with it the notion of higher inductive type (HIT) [P. L. Lumsdaine and M. Shulman, 2019], subsuming both inductive and quotient types. Inductively defined indexed families of types (in all their various forms) are perhaps the most useful concept that dependent type theory has contributed to the practice of computer assistance for formalizing mathematical proofs. However, it is often the case that a particular application of such types needs not only to inductively generate a collection of objects, but also to make identifications between the objects. In classical mathematics one can first generate and then identify, using the Axiom of Choice to lift infinitary constructions to the quotient. HITs can allow one to avoid such non-constructive uses of choice by inter-twining generation and identification. Perhaps more important than the constructive/non-constructive issue is that simultaneously declaring how to generate and how to identify can be a very natural way of defining some construct from the user’s point of view. This is why HITs promise to be so useful, once we have robust and convenient mechanisms in theorem-proving systems for defining HITs and defining functions out of HITs. Although some HITs have been axiomatized in various systems, at the moment the only system I know of with built in support for defining quite general forms of HIT and using them is the implementation of cubical type theory [C. Cohen et al., 2018] within recent versions of the Agda system [A. Vezzosi et al., 2019]. The higher dimensional aspect of identity in cubical type theory is fascinating; nevertheless, the simpler one-dimensional version of identity, in which one has uniqueness of identity proofs (UIP), is adequate for many applications. Although some regard UIP as a bug of early versions of Agda with it’s original form of dependent pattern matching [T. Coquand, 1992], it is by choice a feature of the Lean prover [J. Avigad et al., 2020]. Altenkirch and Kaposi [T. Altenkirch and A. Kaposi, 2016] have termed the one-dimensional version of HITs quotient inductive types (QITs) and they promise to be very useful even in the setting of type theory with UIP. In this talk I survey some of these developments, including a recent reduction of QITs to quotients [M. P. Fiore et al., 2020], and the prospects for better support in theorem-provers for quotient constructions.

We describe experiments in teaching fundamental informatics notions around mathematical structures for formal concepts, and effective algorithms to manipulate them. The major themes of lambda-calculus and type theory served as guides for the effective implementation of functional programming languages and higher-order proof assistants, appropriate for reflecting the theoretical material into effective tools to represent constructively the concepts and formally certify the proofs of their properties. Progressively, a literate programming and proving style replaced informal mathematics in the presentation of the material as executable course notes. The talk will evoke the various stages of (in)completion of the corresponding set of notes along the years, and tell how their elaboration proved to be essential to the discovery of fundamental results.

Three versions of the lambda calculus are discussed: typed lambda calculus, untyped lambda calculus, and polymorphically typed lambda calculus. It is shown that the syntax for these calculi can be described as initial algebras for suitable endofunctors. Models of the first two calculi are described as in [Lambek and Scott 1985] and the Per model of the third is recalled. Algebraic types are described in terms of sketches. A main contribution of the paper is the internalization of the theory of sketches in the category Per. Sketches themselves, models of sketches, categories of models of sketches and the category of all models of all sketches can all be realized in this setting. Next, dinatural transformations are reviewed in the context of the category Per and the relation between certain end formulas and initial algebras for finite signatures is discussed. The point of the theory of algebraic semantics in Per is to provide a setting for thinking about algebraic types and algebraic operations in conjunction with logical types and polymorphic operations. Two specific examples are discussed and a general principle for combining algebraic and polymorphic operations is proposed.KeywordsNatural TransformationCategory TheoryLogical TypeDenotational SemanticGraph ObjectThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Homotopy type theory proposes higher inductive types (HITs) as a means of defining and reasoning about inductively-generated objects with higher-dimensional structure. As with the univalence axiom, however, homotopy type theory does not specify the computational behavior of HITs. Computational interpretations have now been provided for univalence and specific HITs by way of cubical type theories, which use a judgmental infrastructure of dimension variables. We extend the cartesian cubical computational type theory introduced by Angiuli et al. with a schema for indexed cubical inductive types (CITs), an adaptation of higher inductive types to the cubical setting. In doing so, we isolate the canonical values of a cubical inductive type and prove a canonicity theorem with respect to these values.

Proof assistants and the programming languages that implement them need to deal with a range of linguistic expressions that involve bindings. Since most mature proof assistants do not have built-in methods to treat this aspect of syntax, many of them have been extended with various packages and libraries that allow them to encode bindings using, for example, de Bruijn numerals and nominal logic features. I put forward the argument that bindings are such an intimate aspect of the structure of expressions that they should be accounted for directly in the underlying programming language support for proof assistants and not added later using packages and libraries. One possible approach to designing programming languages and proof assistants that directly supports such an approach to bindings in syntax is presented. The roots of such an approach can be found in the mobility of binders between term-level bindings, formula-level bindings (quantifiers), and proof-level bindings (eigenvariables). In particular, by combining Church's approach to terms and formulas (found in his Simple Theory of Types) and Gentzen's approach to sequent calculus proofs, we can learn how bindings can declaratively interact with the full range of logical connectives and quantifiers. I will also illustrate how that framework provides an intimate and semantically clean treatment of computation and reasoning with syntax containing bindings. Some implemented systems, which support this intimate and built-in treatment of bindings, will be briefly described.

We describe a systematic method to build a logic from any programming language described as a Pure Type System (PTS). The formulas of this logic express properties about programs. We define a parametricity theory about programs and a realizability theory for the logic. The logic is expressive enough to internalize both theories. Thanks to the PTS setting, we abstract most idiosyncrasies specific to particular type theories. This confers generality to the results, and reveals parallels between parametricity and realizability.

Recent discoveries have been made connecting abstract homotopy theory and the field of type theory from logic and theoretical computer science. This has given rise to a new field, which has been christened homotopy type theory . In this direction, Vladimir Voevodsky observed that it is possible to model type theory using simplicial sets and that this model satisfies an additional property, called the Univalence Axiom , which has a number of striking consequences. He has subsequently advocated a program, which he calls univalent foundations , of developing mathematics in the setting of type theory with the Univalence Axiom and possibly other additional axioms motivated by the simplicial set model. Because type theory possesses good computational properties, this program can be carried out in a computer proof assistant. In this paper we give an introduction to homotopy type theory in Voevodsky’s setting, paying attention to both theoretical and practical issues. In particular, the paper serves as an introduction to both the general ideas of homotopy type theory as well as to some of the concrete details of Voevodsky’s work using the well-known proof assistant Coq. The paper is written for a general audience of mathematicians with basic knowledge of algebraic topology; the paper does not assume any preliminary knowledge of type theory, logic, or computer science. Because a defining characteristic of Voevodsky’s program is that the Coq code has fundamental mathematical content, and many of the mathematical concepts which are efficiently captured in the code cannot be explained in standard mathematical English without a lengthy detour through type theory, the later sections of this paper (beginning with Section \ref{sec2}) make use of code; however, all notions are introduced from the beginning and in a self-contained fashion.

In this paper, we give a topological proof of the following result: there exist 2?(/spl aleph//sub 0/) lambda theories of the untyped lambda calculus without a model in any semantics based on D.S. Scott's (1972, 1981) view of models as partially ordered sets and of functions as monotonic functions. As a consequence of this result, we positively solve the conjecture, stated by O. Bastonero and X. Gouy (1999) and by C. Berline (2000), that the strongly stable semantics is incomplete.

The Agora system is a prototype for Formal Mathematics, with an aim to support developing and documenting large formalizations of mathematics in a proof assistant. The functions implemented in Agora include in-browser editing, strong AI/ATP proof advice, verification, and HTML rendering. The HTML rendering contains hyperlinks and provides on-demand explanation of the proof state for each proof step. In the present paper we show the prototype Flyspeck Wiki as an instance of Agora for HOL Light formalizations. The wiki can be used for formalizations of mathematics and for writing informal wiki pages about mathematics. Such informal pages may contain islands of formal text, which is used here for providing an initial cross-linking between Hales's informal Flyspeck book, and the formal Flyspeck development. The Agora platform intends to address distributed wiki-style collaboration on large formalization projects, in particular both the aspect of immediate editing, verification and rendering of formal code, and the aspect of gradual and mutual refactoring and correspondence of the initial informal text and its formalization. Here, we highlight these features within the Flyspeck Wiki.

The infinitary lambda calculi pioneered by Kennaway et al. extend the basic lambda calculus by metric completion to infinite terms and reductions. Depending on the chosen metric, the resulting infinitary calculi exhibit different notions of strictness. To obtain infinitary normalisation and infinitary confluence properties for these calculi, Kennaway et al. extend beta-reduction with infinitely many `bot-rules', which contract meaningless terms directly to bot. Three of the resulting Böhm reduction calculi have unique infinitary normal forms corresponding to Böhm-like trees.\nIn this paper we develop a corresponding theory of infinitary lambda calculi based on ideal completion instead of metric completion. We show that each of our calculi conservatively extends the corresponding metric-based calculus. Three of our calculi are infinitarily normalising and confluent; their unique infinitary normal forms are exactly the Böhm-like trees of the corresponding metric-based calculi. Our calculi dispense with the infinitely many bot-rules of the metric-based calculi. The fully non-strict calculus (called 111) consists of only beta-reduction, while the other two calculi (called 001 and 101) require two additional rules that precisely state their strictness properties: lambda x.bot -> bot (for 001) and bot M -> bot (for 001 and 101).