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Batch of changes based on proofreader feedback
author Adam Chlipala <adam@chlipala.net>
date Mon, 22 Oct 2012 14:23:52 -0400
parents 4320c1a967c2
children 582cf453878e
comparison
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474:d9e1fb184672 475:1fd4109f7b31
315 315
316 (* EX: Write a list length function in Ltac. *) 316 (* EX: Write a list length function in Ltac. *)
317 317
318 (** Ltac supports quite convenient functional programming, with a Lisp-with-syntax kind of flavor. However, there are a few syntactic conventions involved in getting programs to be accepted. The Ltac syntax is optimized for tactic-writing, so one has to deal with some inconveniences in writing more standard functional programs. 318 (** Ltac supports quite convenient functional programming, with a Lisp-with-syntax kind of flavor. However, there are a few syntactic conventions involved in getting programs to be accepted. The Ltac syntax is optimized for tactic-writing, so one has to deal with some inconveniences in writing more standard functional programs.
319 319
320 To illustrate, let us try to write a simple list length function. We start out writing it just like in Gallina, simply replacing [Fixpoint] (and its annotations) with [Ltac]. 320 To illustrate, let us try to write a simple list length function. We start out writing it just as in Gallina, simply replacing [Fixpoint] (and its annotations) with [Ltac].
321 [[ 321 [[
322 Ltac length ls := 322 Ltac length ls :=
323 match ls with 323 match ls with
324 | nil => O 324 | nil => O
325 | _ :: ls' => S (length ls') 325 | _ :: ls' => S (length ls')
460 << 460 <<
461 Error: variable n should be bound to a term. 461 Error: variable n should be bound to a term.
462 >> *) 462 >> *)
463 Abort. 463 Abort.
464 464
465 (** What is going wrong here? The answer has to do with the dual status of Ltac as both a purely functional and an imperative programming language. The basic programming language is purely functional, but tactic scripts are one "datatype" that can be returned by such programs, and Coq will run such a script using an imperative semantics that mutates proof states. Readers familiar with %\index{monad}\index{Haskell}%monadic programming in Haskell%~\cite{Monads,IO}% may recognize a similarity. Side-effecting Haskell programs can be thought of as pure programs that return _the code of programs in an imperative language_, where some out-of-band mechanism takes responsibility for running these derived programs. In this way, Haskell remains pure, while supporting usual input-output side effects and more. Ltac uses the same basic mechanism, but in a dynamically typed setting. Here the embedded imperative language includes all the tactics we have been applying so far. 465 (** What is going wrong here? The answer has to do with the dual status of Ltac as both a purely functional and an imperative programming language. The basic programming language is purely functional, but tactic scripts are one "datatype" that can be returned by such programs, and Coq will run such a script using an imperative semantics that mutates proof states. Readers familiar with %\index{monad}\index{Haskell}%monadic programming in Haskell%~\cite{Monads,IO}% may recognize a similarity. Haskell programs with side effects can be thought of as pure programs that return _the code of programs in an imperative language_, where some out-of-band mechanism takes responsibility for running these derived programs. In this way, Haskell remains pure, while supporting usual input-output side effects and more. Ltac uses the same basic mechanism, but in a dynamically typed setting. Here the embedded imperative language includes all the tactics we have been applying so far.
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467 Even basic [idtac] is an embedded imperative program, so we may not automatically mix it with purely functional code. In fact, a semicolon operator alone marks a span of Ltac code as an embedded tactic script. This makes some amount of sense, since pure functional languages have no need for sequencing: since they lack side effects, there is no reason to run an expression and then just throw away its value and move on to another expression. 467 Even basic [idtac] is an embedded imperative program, so we may not automatically mix it with purely functional code. In fact, a semicolon operator alone marks a span of Ltac code as an embedded tactic script. This makes some amount of sense, since pure functional languages have no need for sequencing: since they lack side effects, there is no reason to run an expression and then just throw away its value and move on to another expression.
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469 The solution is like in Haskell: we must "monadify" our pure program to give it access to side effects. The trouble is that the embedded tactic language has no [return] construct. Proof scripts are about proving theorems, not calculating results. We can apply a somewhat awkward workaround that requires translating our program into%\index{continuation-passing style}% _continuation-passing style_ %\cite{continuations}%, a program structuring idea popular in functional programming. *) 469 The solution is like in Haskell: we must "monadify" our pure program to give it access to side effects. The trouble is that the embedded tactic language has no [return] construct. Proof scripts are about proving theorems, not calculating results. We can apply a somewhat awkward workaround that requires translating our program into%\index{continuation-passing style}% _continuation-passing style_ %\cite{continuations}%, a program structuring idea popular in functional programming. *)
470 470