It is demonstrated how a dependently typed lambda calculus (a logical framework) can be formalised inside a language with inductive-recursive families. The formalisation does not use raw terms; the well-typed terms are defined directly. It is hence impossible to create ill-typed terms. As an example of programming with strong invariants, and to show that the formalisation is usable, normalisation is proved. Moreover, this proof seems to be the first formal account of normalisation by evaluation for a dependently typed language.

Traditionally, decidability of conversion for typed λ-calculi is established by showing that small-step reduction is confluent and strongly normalising. Here we investigate an alternative approach employing a recursively defined normalisation function which we show to be terminating and which reflects and preserves conversion. We apply our approach to the simply-typed λ-calculus with explicit substitutions and βη-equality, a system which is not strongly normalising. We also show how the construction can be extended to System T with the usual β-rules for the recursion combinator. Our approach is practical, since it does verify an actual implementation of normalisation which, unlike normalisation by evaluation, is first order. An important feature of our approach is that we are using logical relations to establish equational soundness (identity of normal forms reflects the equational theory), instead of the usual syntactic reasoning using the Church-Rosser property of a term rewriting system.

We analyze a normalization function for the simply typed λ-calculus based on hereditary substitutions, a technique developed by Pfenning et al. The normalizer is implemented in Agda, a total language where all programs terminate. It requires no termination proof since it is structurally recursive which is recognized by Agda’s termination checker. Using Agda as an interactive theorem prover we establish that our normalization function precisely identifies βη-equivalent terms and hence can be used to decide βη-equality. An interesting feature of this approach is that it is clear from the construction that βη-equality is primitive recursive.

We analyze a normalization function for the simply typed λ-calculus based on hereditary substitutions, a technique developed by Pfenning et al. The normalizer is implemented in Agda, a total language where all programs terminate. It requires no termination proof since it is structurally recursive which is recognized by Agda’s termination checker. Using Agda as an interactive theorem prover we establish that our normalization function precisely identifies βη-equivalent terms and hence can be used to decide βηequality. An interesting feature of this approach is that it is clear from the construction that βη-equality is primitive recursive.