. Twelf is a meta-logical framework for the specification, implementation, and meta-theory of deductive systems from the theory of programming languages and logics. It relies on the LF type theory and the judgments-as-types methodology for specification [HHP93], a constraint logic programming interpreter for implementation [Pfe91], and the meta-logic M2 for reasoning about object languages encoded in LF [SP98]. It is a significant extension and complete reimplementation of the Elf system [Pfe94]. Twelf is written in Standard ML and runs under SML of New Jersey and MLWorks on Unix and Window platforms. The current version (1.2) is distributed with a complete manual, example suites, a tutorial in the form of on-line lecture notes [Pfe], and an Emacs interface. Source and binary distributions are accessible via the Twelf home page http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~twelf. 1 The Twelf System The Twelf system is a tool for experimentation in the theory of programming languages and logics. It supports...

not be interpreted as representing the o cial policies, either expressed or implied, of NSF or the U.S. Government. This thesis describes the design of a meta-logical framework that supports the representation and veri cation of deductive systems, its implementation as an automated theorem prover, and experimental results related to the areas of programming languages, type theory, and logics. Design: The meta-logical framework extends the logical framework LF [HHP93] by a meta-logic M + 2. This design is novel and unique since it allows higher-order encodings of deductive systems and induction principles to coexist. On the one hand, higher-order representation techniques lead to concise and direct encodings of programming languages and logic calculi. Inductive de nitions on the other hand allow the formalization of properties about deductive systems, such as the proof that an operational semantics preserves types or the proof that a logic is is a proof calculus whose proof terms are recursive functions that may be consistent.M +

Abstract We present the type theory LTT, intended to form a basis for typed target languages, providing an internal notion of logical proposition and proof. The inclusion of explicit proofs allows the type system to guarantee properties that would otherwise be incompatible with decidable type checking. LTT also provides linear facilities for tracking ephemeral properties that hold only for certain program states. Our type theory allows for re-use of typechecking software by casting a variety of type systems within a single language. We provide additional re-use with a framework for modular development of operational semantics. This framework allows independent type systems and their operational semantics to be joined together, automatically inheriting the type safety properties of those individual systems.

Elf is a general meta-language for the specification and implementation of logical systems in the style of the logical framework LF. Based on a logic programming interpretation, it supports executing logical systems and reasoning with and about them, thereby reducing the effort required for each particular logical system. The traditional logic programming paradigm is extended by replacing first-order terms with dependently typed -terms and allowing implication and universal quantification in the bodies of clauses. These higher-order features allow us to model concisely and elegantly conditions on variables and the discharge of assumptions which are prevalent in many logical systems. However, many specifications are not executable under the traditional logic programming semantics and performance may be hampered by redundant computation. To address these problems, I propose a tabled higher-order logic programming interpretation for Elf. Some redundant computation is eliminated by memoizing sub-computation and re-using its result later. If we do not distinguish different proofs for a property, then search based on tabled logic programming is complete and terminates for programs with bounded recursion. In this proposal, I present a proof-theoretical characterization for tabled higher-order logic programming. It is the basis of the implemented prototype for tabled logic programming interpreter for Elf. Preliminary experiments indicate that many more logical specifications are executable under the tabled semantics. In addition, tabled computation leads to more efficient execution of programs. The goal of the thesis is to demonstrate that tabled logic programming allows us to efficiently automate reasoning with and about logical systems in the logical f...

This paper describes a calculus of partial recursive functions that range over arbitrary and possibly higher-order objects in LF [HHP93]. Its most novel features include recursion under lambda-binders and matching against dynamically introduced parameters.

A metalogical framework is a logic with an associated methodology that is used to represent other logics and to reason about their metalogical properties. We propose that logical frameworks can be good metalogical frameworks when their logics support reective reasoning and their theories always have initial models. We present a concrete realization of this idea in rewriting logic. Theories in rewriting logic always have initial models and this logic supports reective reasoning. This implies that inductive reasoning is valid when proving properties about the initial models of theories in rewriting logic, and that we can use reection to reason at the metalevel about these properties. In fact, we can uniformly reect induction principles for proving metatheorems about rewriting logic theories and their parameterized extensions. We show that this reective methodology provides an eective framework for dierent, non-trivial, kinds of formal metatheoretic reasoning; one can...

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It has been amply demonstrated in recent years that careful attention to the structure of systems software can lead to greater flexibility, reliability, and ease of implementation, without incurring an undue penalty in performance. It is our contention that advanced programming languages - particularly languages with a mathematically rigorous semantics, and featuring higher order functions, polymorphic types, and a strong module system are ideally suited to expressing such structure. Indeed, our previous research has shown that the use of an advanced programming language can have a fundamental effect on system design, leading naturally to system architectures that are highly modular, efficient, and allow re-use of code We are thus working to demonstrate the viability and ibenefts of advanced languages for programming real world systems. and in particular Active Networks. To achieve this we have organized our research into the areas of language technology, safety infrastructure, compiler technology, and applications. This report describes the current plans for this effort which we refer to as the Fox project.

The notion of program transformation is ubiquitous in programming language studies on interpreters, compilers, partial evaluators, etc. In order to implement a program transformation, we need to choose a representation in the meta language, that is, the programming language in which we construct programs, for representing object programs, that is, the programs in the object language on which the program transformation is to be performed. In practice, most representations chosen for typed...

Many semantical aspects of programming languages are specified through calculi for constructing proofs: consider, for example, the specification of structured operational semantics, labeled transition systems, and typing systems. Recent proof theory research has identified two features that allow direct, logic-based reasoning about such descriptions: the treatment of atomic judgments as fixed points (recursive definitions) and an encoding of binding constructs via generic judgments. However, the logics encompassing these two features have thus far treated them orthogonally. In particular, they have not contained the ability to form definitions of object-logic properties that themselves depend on an intrinsic treatment of binding. We propose a new and simple integration of these features within an intuitionistic logic enhanced with induction over natural numbers and we show that the resulting logic is consistent. The pivotal part of the integration allows recursive definitions to define generic judgments in general and not just the simpler atomic judgments that are traditionally allowed. The usefulness of this logic is illustrated by showing how it can provide elegant treatments of object-logic contexts that appear in proofs involving typing calculi and arbitrarily cascading substitutions in reducibility arguments.