In the semantics of programming, nite data types such as finite lists, have traditionally been modelled by initial algebras. Later final coalgebras were used in order to deal with in finite data types. Coalgebras, which are the dual of algebras, turned out to be suited, moreover, as models for certain types of automata and more generally, for (transition and dynamical) systems. An important property of initial algebras is that they satisfy the familiar principle of induction. Such a principle was missing for coalgebras until the work of Aczel (Non-Well-Founded sets, CSLI Leethre Notes, Vol. 14, center for the study of Languages and information, Stanford, 1988) on a theory of non-wellfounded sets, in which he introduced a proof principle nowadays called coinduction. It was formulated in terms of bisimulation, a notion originally stemming from the world of concurrent programming languages. Using the notion of coalgebra homomorphism, the definition of bisimulation on coalgebras can be shown to be formally dual to that of congruence on algebras. Thus, the three basic notions of universal algebra: algebra, homomorphism of algebras, and congruence, turn out to correspond to coalgebra, homomorphism of coalgebras, and bisimulation, respectively. In this paper, the latter are taken

The classical theory of deterministic automata is presented in terms of the notions of homomorphism and bisimulation, which are the cornerstones of the theory of (universal) coalgebra. This leads to a transparent and uniform presentation of automata theory and yields some new insights, amongst which coinduction proof methods for language equality and language inclusion. At the same time, the present treatment of automata theory may serve as an introduction to coalgebra.

Circular coinductive rewriting is a new method for proving behavioral properties, that combines behavioral rewriting with circular coinduction. This method is implemented in our new BOBJ behavioral specification and computation system, which is used in examples throughout this paper. These examples demonstrate the surprising power of circular coinductive rewriting. The paper also sketches the underlying hidden algebraic theory and briefly describes BOBJ and some of its algorithms.

Proof-carrying code (PCC) is a framework for mechanically verifying the safety of machine language programs. A program that is successfully verified by a PCC system is guaranteed to be safe to execute, but this safety guarantee is contingent upon the correctness of various trusted components. For instance, in traditional PCC systems the trusted computing base includes a large set of low-level typing rules. Foundational PCC systems seek to minimize the size of the trusted computing base. In particular, they eliminate the need to trust complex, low-level type systems by providing machine-checkable proofs of type soundness for real machine languages. In this thesis, I demonstrate the use of logical relations for proving the soundness of type systems for mutable state. Specifically, I focus on type systems that ensure the safe allocation, update, and reuse of memory. For each type in the language, I define logical relations that explain the meaning of the type in terms of the oper-ational semantics of the language. Using this model of types, I prove each typing rule as a lemma. The major contribution is a model of System F with general references — that is, mutable cells that can hold values of any closed type including other references, functions, recursive types, and impredicative quantified types. The model is based on ideas from both possible worlds and the indexed model of Appel and McAllester. I show how the model of mutable references is encoded in higher-order logic. I also show how to construct an indexed possible-worlds model for a von Neumann machine. The latter is used in the Princeton Foundational PCC system to prove type safety for a full-fledged low-level typed assembly language. Finally, I present a semantic model for a region calculus that supports type-invariant references as well as memory reuse. iii

In this paper we propose an ecient algorithmic solution to the problem of determining a Bisimulation Relation on a nite structure working both on the explicit and on the implicit (symbolic) representation. As far as the explicit case is concerned, starting from a set-theoretic point of view we propose an algorithm that optimizes the solution to the Relational Coarsest Partition Problem given by Paige and Tarjan in 1987; its use in model-checking packages is discussed and tested. For well structured graphs our algorithm reaches a linear worst-case behaviour. The same ideas can be elaborated for the development of the algorithm for the symbolic case.

Amal J. Ahmed Andrew W. Appel # Roberto Virga Princeton University {amal,appel,rvirga}@cs.princeton.edu Abstract We demonstrate a semantic model of general references --- that is, mutable memory cells that may contain values of any (statically-checked) closed type, including other references. Our model is in terms of execution sequences on a von Neumann machine

In this paper we propose an efficient algorithmic solution to the problem of determining a Bisimulation Relation on a finite structure.

We investigate the relation between the set-theoretical description of coinduction based on Tarski Fixpoint Theorem, and the categorical description of coinduction based on coalgebras. In particular, we examine set-theoretic generalizations of the coinduction proof principle, in the spirit of Milner's bisimulation "up-to", and we discuss categorical counterparts for these. Moreover, we investigate the connection between these and the equivalences induced by T -coiterative functions. These are morphisms into final coalgebras, satisfying the T -coiteration scheme, which is a generalization of both the coiteration and the corecursion scheme. We generalize Rutten's transformation from coalgebraic bisimulations to set-theoretic bisimulations, in order to cover also the case of bisimulations "up-to". A list of examples of set-theoretic coinductive specifications which appear not to be easily expressible in coalgebraic terms are discussed. Introduction Coinductive definitions and ...

We consider some Bounded Set Theories (BST), which are analogues to Bounded Arithmetic. Corresponding provably-recursive operations over sets are characterized in terms of explicit definability and PTIME- or LOGSPACE-computability. We also present some conservativity results and describe a relation between BST, possibly with Anti-Foundation Axiom, and a Logic of Inductive Definitions (LID) and Finite Model Theory.

In this paper we show how to extend a set unification algorithm -- i.e., an extended unification algorithm incorporating the axioms of a simple theory of sets -- to hyperset unification, that is to sets in which, roughly speaking, membership can form cycles. This is obtained by enlarging the domain from that of terms (hence, trees) to that of graphs involving free as well as interpreted function symbols (namely, the set element insertion and the empty set), which can be regarded as a convenient denotation of hypersets. We present a hyperset unification algorithm which (non-deterministically) computes, for each given unification problem, a finite collection of systems of equations in solvable form whose solutions represent a complete set of solutions for the given unification problem. The crucial issue of termination of the algorithm is addressed and solved by the addition of simple non-membership constraints. Finally, the hyperset unification problem dealt with is proved to be NP-comp...