. 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...

Higher-order unification is equational unification for βη-conversion. But it is not first-order equational unification, as substitution has to avoid capture. In this paper higher-order unification is reduced to first-order equational unification in a suitable theory: the λσ-calculus of explicit substitutions.

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 +

Introduction We present our implementation AGDA of type theory. We limit ourselves in this presentation to a rather primitive form of type theory (dependent product with a simple notion of sorts) that we extend to structure facility we find in most programming language: let expressions (local definition) and a package mechanism. We call this language Structured Type Theory. The first part describes the syntax of the language and an informal description of the type-checking. The second part contains a detailed description of a core language, which is used to implement Strutured Type Theory. We give a realisability semantics, and type-checking rules are proved correct with respect to this semantics. The notion of meta-variables is explained at this level. The third part explains how to interpret Structured Type Theory in this core language. The main contributions are: ffl use of explicit substitution to simplify and make

Coverage checking is the problem of deciding whether any closed term of a given type is an instance of at least one of a given set of patterns. It can be used to verify if a function defined by pattern matching covers all possible cases. This problem has a straightforward solution for the first-order, simply-typed case, but is in general undecidable in the presence of dependent types. In this paper we present a terminating algorithm for verifying coverage of higher-order, dependently typed patterns.

Abstract. Higher-order abstract syntax (HOAS) refers to the technique of representing variables of an object-language using variables of a meta-language. The standard first-order alternatives force the programmer to deal with superficial concerns such as substitutions, whose implementation is often routine, tedious, and error-prone. In this paper, we describe the underlying calculus of Delphin. Delphin is a fully implemented functional-programming language supporting reasoning over higher-order encodings and dependent types, while maintaining the benefits of HOAS. More specifically, just as representations utilizing HOAS free the programmer from concerns of handling explicit contexts and substitutions, our system permits programming over such encodings without making these constructs explicit, leading to concise and elegant programs. To this end our system distinguishes bindings of variables intended for instantiation from those that will remain uninstantiated, utilizing a variation of Miller and Tiu’s ∇-quantifier [1]. 1

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this paper we investigate the interaction of notational definitions with algorithms for testing equality and unification. We propose a syntactic criterion on definitions which avoids their expansion in many cases without losing soundness or completeness with respect to fi ffi-conversion. Our setting is the dependently typed -calculus [HHP93], but, with minor modifications, our results should apply to richer type theories and logics. The question when definitions need to be expanded is surprisingly subtle and of great practical importance. Most algorithms for equality and unification rely on decomposing a problem

We present a higher-order term indexing strategy based on substitution trees. The strategy is based in linear higher-order patterns where computationally expensive parts are delayed. Insertion of terms into the index is based on computing the most specific linear generalization of two linear higher-order patterns. Retrieving terms is based on matching two linear higher-order patterns. This indexing structure is implemented as part of the Twelf system to speed-up the execution of the tabled higher-logic programming interpreter. Experimental results show substantial performance improvements, between 100% and over 800%.

The impact of Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) on software design is considerable. They allow programs to be more concise than equivalent programs written in a high-level programming languages. They relieve programmers from making decisions about data-structure and algorithm design, and thus allows solutions to be constructed quickly. Because DSL's are at a higher level of abstraction they are easier to maintain and reason about than equivalent programs written in a highlevel language, and perhaps most importantly they can be written by domain experts rather than programmers. The problem is that DSL implementation is costly and prone to errors, and that high level approaches to DSL implementation often produce inefficient systems. By using two new programming language mechanisms, program staging and monadic abstraction, we can lower the cost of DSL implementations by allowing reuse at many levels. These mechanisms provide the expressive power that allows the construction of many compil...