comparison src/ProgLang.v @ 381:d5112c099fbf

New chapter: ProgLang
author Adam Chlipala <adam@chlipala.net>
date Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:02:32 -0400
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1 (* Copyright (c) 2011-2012, Adam Chlipala
2 *
3 * This work is licensed under a
4 * Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
5 * Unported License.
6 * The license text is available at:
7 * http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
8 *)
9
10 (* begin hide *)
11 Require Import FunctionalExtensionality List.
12
13 Require Import CpdtTactics DepList.
14
15 Set Implicit Arguments.
16 (* end hide *)
17
18 (** %\chapter{A Taste of Reasoning About Programming Language Syntax}% *)
19
20 (** Reasoning about the syntax and semantics of programming languages is a popular application of proof assistants. Before proving the first theorem of this kind, it is necessary to choose a formal encoding of the informal notions of syntax, dealing with such issues as %\index{variable binding}%variable binding conventions. I believe the pragmatic questions in this domain are far from settled and remain as important open research problems. However, in this chapter, I will demonstrate two underused encoding approaches. Note that I am not recommending either approach as a silver bullet! Mileage will vary across concrete problems, and I expect there to be significant future advances in our knowledge of encoding techniques. For a broader introduction to programming language formalization, using more elementary techniques, see %\emph{%#<a href="http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/sf/"><i>#Software Foundations#</i></a>#%}\footnote{\url{http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/sf/}}% by Pierce et al.
21
22 This chapter is also meant as a case study, bringing together what we have learned in the previous chapters. We will see a concrete example of the importance of representation choices; translating mathematics from paper to Coq is not a deterministic process, and different creative choices can have big impacts. We will also see dependent types and scripted proof automation in action, applied to solve a particular problem as well as possible, rather than to demonstrate new Coq concepts.
23
24 I apologize in advance to those readers not familiar with the theory of programming language semantics. I will make a few remarks intended to relate the material here with common ideas in semantics, but these remarks should be safe for others to skip.
25
26 We will define a small programming language and reason about its semantics, expressed as an interpreter into Coq terms, much as we have done in examples throughout the book. It will be helpful to build a slight extension of [crush] that tries to apply %\index{functional extensionality}%functional extensionality, an axiom we met in Chapter 12, which says that two functions are equal if they map equal inputs to equal outputs. *)
27
28 Ltac ext := let x := fresh "x" in extensionality x.
29 Ltac t := crush; repeat (ext || f_equal; crush).
30
31 (** At this point in the book source, some auxiliary proofs also appear. *)
32
33 (* begin hide *)
34 Section hmap.
35 Variable A : Type.
36 Variables B1 B2 B3 : A -> Type.
37
38 Variable f1 : forall x, B1 x -> B2 x.
39 Variable f2 : forall x, B2 x -> B3 x.
40
41 Theorem hmap_hmap : forall ls (hl : hlist B1 ls), hmap f2 (hmap f1 hl) = hmap (fun i (x : B1 i) => f2 (f1 x)) hl.
42 induction hl; crush.
43 Qed.
44 End hmap.
45
46 Section Forall.
47 Variable A : Type.
48 Variable P : A -> Prop.
49
50 Theorem Forall_In : forall ls, Forall P ls -> forall x, In x ls -> P x.
51 induction 1; crush.
52 Qed.
53
54 Theorem Forall_In' : forall ls, (forall x, In x ls -> P x) -> Forall P ls.
55 induction ls; crush.
56 Qed.
57
58 Variable P' : A -> Prop.
59
60 Theorem Forall_weaken : forall ls, Forall P ls
61 -> (forall x, P x -> P' x)
62 -> Forall P' ls.
63 induction 1; crush.
64 Qed.
65 End Forall.
66 (* end hide *)
67
68 (** Here is a definition of the type system we will use throughout the chapter. It is for simply typed lambda calculus with natural numbers as the base type. *)
69
70 Inductive type : Type :=
71 | Nat : type
72 | Func : type -> type -> type.
73
74 Fixpoint typeDenote (t : type) : Type :=
75 match t with
76 | Nat => nat
77 | Func t1 t2 => typeDenote t1 -> typeDenote t2
78 end.
79
80 (** Now we have some choices as to how we represent the syntax of programs. The two sections of the chapter explore two such choices, demonstrating the effect the choice has on proof complexity. *)
81
82
83 (** * Dependent de Bruijn Indices *)
84
85 (** The first encoding is one we met first in Chapter 9, the %\emph{%#<i>#dependent de Bruijn index#</i>#%}% encoding. We represent program syntax terms in a type familiy parametrized by a list of types, representing the %\emph{%#<i>#typing context#</i>#%}%, or information on which free variables are in scope and what their types are. Variables are represented in a way isomorphic to the natural numbers, where number 0 represents the first element in the context, number 1 the second element, and so on. Actually, instead of numbers, we use the [member] dependent type family from Chapter 9. *)
86
87 Module FirstOrder.
88
89 (** Here is the definition of the [term] type, including variables, constants, addition, function abstraction and application, and let binding of local variables. *)
90
91 Inductive term : list type -> type -> Type :=
92 | Var : forall G t, member t G -> term G t
93
94 | Const : forall G, nat -> term G Nat
95 | Plus : forall G, term G Nat -> term G Nat -> term G Nat
96
97 | Abs : forall G dom ran, term (dom :: G) ran -> term G (Func dom ran)
98 | App : forall G dom ran, term G (Func dom ran) -> term G dom -> term G ran
99
100 | Let : forall G t1 t2, term G t1 -> term (t1 :: G) t2 -> term G t2.
101
102 Implicit Arguments Const [G].
103
104 (** Here are two example term encodings, the first of addition packaged as a two-argument curried function, and the second of a sample application of addition to constants. *)
105
106 Example add : term nil (Func Nat (Func Nat Nat)) :=
107 Abs (Abs (Plus (Var (HNext HFirst)) (Var HFirst))).
108
109 Example three_the_hard_way : term nil Nat :=
110 App (App add (Const 1)) (Const 2).
111
112 (** Since dependent typing ensures that any term is well-formed in its context and has a particular type, it is easy to translate syntactic terms into Coq values. *)
113
114 Fixpoint termDenote G t (e : term G t) : hlist typeDenote G -> typeDenote t :=
115 match e with
116 | Var _ _ x => fun s => hget s x
117
118 | Const _ n => fun _ => n
119 | Plus _ e1 e2 => fun s => termDenote e1 s + termDenote e2 s
120
121 | Abs _ _ _ e1 => fun s => fun x => termDenote e1 (x ::: s)
122 | App _ _ _ e1 e2 => fun s => (termDenote e1 s) (termDenote e2 s)
123
124 | Let _ _ _ e1 e2 => fun s => termDenote e2 (termDenote e1 s ::: s)
125 end.
126
127 (** With this term representation, some program transformations are easy to implement and prove correct. Certainly we would be worried if this were not the the case for the %\emph{%#<i>#identity#</i>#%}% transformation, which takes a term apart and reassembles it. *)
128
129 Fixpoint ident G t (e : term G t) : term G t :=
130 match e with
131 | Var _ _ x => Var x
132
133 | Const _ n => Const n
134 | Plus _ e1 e2 => Plus (ident e1) (ident e2)
135
136 | Abs _ _ _ e1 => Abs (ident e1)
137 | App _ _ _ e1 e2 => App (ident e1) (ident e2)
138
139 | Let _ _ _ e1 e2 => Let (ident e1) (ident e2)
140 end.
141
142 Theorem identSound : forall G t (e : term G t) s,
143 termDenote (ident e) s = termDenote e s.
144 induction e; t.
145 Qed.
146
147 (** A slightly more ambitious transformation belongs to the family of %\emph{%#<i>#constant folding#</i>#%}% optimizations we have used as examples in other chapters. *)
148
149 Fixpoint cfold G t (e : term G t) : term G t :=
150 match e with
151 | Plus G e1 e2 =>
152 let e1' := cfold e1 in
153 let e2' := cfold e2 in
154 match e1', e2' return _ with
155 | Const _ n1, Const _ n2 => Const (n1 + n2)
156 | _, _ => Plus e1' e2'
157 end
158
159 | Abs _ _ _ e1 => Abs (cfold e1)
160 | App _ _ _ e1 e2 => App (cfold e1) (cfold e2)
161
162 | Let _ _ _ e1 e2 => Let (cfold e1) (cfold e2)
163
164 | e => e
165 end.
166
167 (** The correctness proof is more complex, but only slightly so. *)
168
169 Theorem cfoldSound : forall G t (e : term G t) s,
170 termDenote (cfold e) s = termDenote e s.
171 induction e; t;
172 repeat (match goal with
173 | [ |- context[match ?E with
174 | Var _ _ _ => _ | Const _ _ => _ | Plus _ _ _ => _
175 | Abs _ _ _ _ => _ | App _ _ _ _ _ => _
176 | Let _ _ _ _ _ => _
177 end] ] => dep_destruct E
178 end; t).
179 Qed.
180
181 (** The transformations we have tried so far have been straightforward because they do not have interesting effects on the variable binding structure of terms. The dependent de Bruijn representation is called %\index{first-order syntax}\emph{%#<i>#first-order#</i>#%}% because it encodes variable identity explicitly; all such representations incur bookkeeping overheads in transformations that rearrange binding structure.
182
183 As an example of a tricky transformation, consider one that removes all uses of %``%#"#[let x = e1 in e2]#"#%''% by substituting [e1] for [x] in [e2]. We will implement the translation by pairing the %``%#"#compile-time#"#%''% typing environment with a %``%#"#run-time#"#%''% value environment or %\emph{%#<i>#substitution#</i>#%}%, mapping each variable to a value to be substituted for it. Such a substitute term may be placed within a program in a position with a larger typing environment than applied at the point where the substitute term was chosen. To support such context transplantation, we need %\emph{%#<i>#lifting#</i>#%}%, a standard de Bruijn indices operation. With dependent typing, lifting corresponds to weakening for typing judgments.
184
185 The fundamental goal of lifting is to add a new variable to a typing context, maintaining the validity of a term in the expanded context. To express the operation of adding a type to a context, we use a helper function [insertAt]. *)
186
187 Fixpoint insertAt (t : type) (G : list type) (n : nat) {struct n} : list type :=
188 match n with
189 | O => t :: G
190 | S n' => match G with
191 | nil => t :: G
192 | t' :: G' => t' :: insertAt t G' n'
193 end
194 end.
195
196 (** Another function lifts bound variable instances, which we represent with [member] values. *)
197
198 Fixpoint liftVar t G (x : member t G) t' n : member t (insertAt t' G n) :=
199 match x with
200 | HFirst G' => match n return member t (insertAt t' (t :: G') n) with
201 | O => HNext HFirst
202 | _ => HFirst
203 end
204 | HNext t'' G' x' => match n return member t (insertAt t' (t'' :: G') n) with
205 | O => HNext (HNext x')
206 | S n' => HNext (liftVar x' t' n')
207 end
208 end.
209
210 (** The final helper function for lifting allows us to insert a new variable anywhere in a typing context. *)
211
212 Fixpoint lift' G t' n t (e : term G t) : term (insertAt t' G n) t :=
213 match e with
214 | Var _ _ x => Var (liftVar x t' n)
215
216 | Const _ n => Const n
217 | Plus _ e1 e2 => Plus (lift' t' n e1) (lift' t' n e2)
218
219 | Abs _ _ _ e1 => Abs (lift' t' (S n) e1)
220 | App _ _ _ e1 e2 => App (lift' t' n e1) (lift' t' n e2)
221
222 | Let _ _ _ e1 e2 => Let (lift' t' n e1) (lift' t' (S n) e2)
223 end.
224
225 (** In the [Let] removal transformation, we only need to apply lifting to add a new variable at the %\emph{%#<i>#beginning#</i>#%}% of a typing context, so we package lifting into this final, simplified form. *)
226
227 Definition lift G t' t (e : term G t) : term (t' :: G) t :=
228 lift' t' O e.
229
230 (** Finally, we can implement [Let] removal. The argument of type [hlist (term G') G] represents a substitution mapping each variable from context [G] into a term that is valid in context [G']. Note how the [Abs] case (1) extends via lifting the substitution [s] to hold in the broader context of the abstraction body [e1] and (2) maps the new first variable to itself. It is only the [Let] case that maps a variable to any substitute beside itself. *)
231
232 Fixpoint unlet G t (e : term G t) G' : hlist (term G') G -> term G' t :=
233 match e with
234 | Var _ _ x => fun s => hget s x
235
236 | Const _ n => fun _ => Const n
237 | Plus _ e1 e2 => fun s => Plus (unlet e1 s) (unlet e2 s)
238
239 | Abs _ _ _ e1 => fun s => Abs (unlet e1 (Var HFirst ::: hmap (lift _) s))
240 | App _ _ _ e1 e2 => fun s => App (unlet e1 s) (unlet e2 s)
241
242 | Let _ t1 _ e1 e2 => fun s => unlet e2 (unlet e1 s ::: s)
243 end.
244
245 (** We have finished defining the transformation, but the parade of helper functions is not over. To prove correctness, we will use one more helper function and a few lemmas. First, we need an operation to insert a new value into a substitution at a particular position. *)
246
247 Fixpoint insertAtS (t : type) (x : typeDenote t) (G : list type) (n : nat) {struct n}
248 : hlist typeDenote G -> hlist typeDenote (insertAt t G n) :=
249 match n with
250 | O => fun s => x ::: s
251 | S n' => match G return hlist typeDenote G
252 -> hlist typeDenote (insertAt t G (S n')) with
253 | nil => fun s => x ::: s
254 | t' :: G' => fun s => hhd s ::: insertAtS t x n' (htl s)
255 end
256 end.
257
258 Implicit Arguments insertAtS [t G].
259
260 (** Next we prove that [liftVar] is correct. That is, a lifted variable retains its value with respect to a substitution when we perform an analogue to lifting by inserting a new mapping into the substitution. *)
261
262 Lemma liftVarSound : forall t' (x : typeDenote t') t G (m : member t G) s n,
263 hget s m = hget (insertAtS x n s) (liftVar m t' n).
264 induction m; destruct n; dep_destruct s; t.
265 Qed.
266
267 Hint Resolve liftVarSound.
268
269 (** An analogous lemma establishes correctness of [lift']. *)
270
271 Lemma lift'Sound : forall G t' (x : typeDenote t') t (e : term G t) n s,
272 termDenote e s = termDenote (lift' t' n e) (insertAtS x n s).
273 induction e; t;
274 repeat match goal with
275 | [ IH : forall n s, _ = termDenote (lift' _ n ?E) _
276 |- context[lift' _ (S ?N) ?E] ] => specialize (IH (S N))
277 end; t.
278 Qed.
279
280 (** Correctness of [lift] itself is an easy corollary. *)
281
282 Lemma liftSound : forall G t' (x : typeDenote t') t (e : term G t) s,
283 termDenote (lift t' e) (x ::: s) = termDenote e s.
284 unfold lift; intros; rewrite (lift'Sound _ x e O); trivial.
285 Qed.
286
287 Hint Rewrite hget_hmap hmap_hmap liftSound.
288
289 (** Finally, we can prove correctness of [unletSound] for terms in arbitrary typing environments. *)
290
291 Lemma unletSound' : forall G t (e : term G t) G' (s : hlist (term G') G) s1,
292 termDenote (unlet e s) s1
293 = termDenote e (hmap (fun t' (e' : term G' t') => termDenote e' s1) s).
294 induction e; t.
295 Qed.
296
297 (** The lemma statement is a mouthful, with all its details of typing contexts and substitutions. It is usually prudent to state a final theorem in as simple a way as possible, to help your readers believe that you have proved what they expect. We do that here for the simple case of terms with empty typing contexts. *)
298
299 Theorem unletSound : forall t (e : term nil t),
300 termDenote (unlet e HNil) HNil = termDenote e HNil.
301 intros; apply unletSound'.
302 Qed.
303
304 End FirstOrder.
305
306 (** The [Let] removal optimization is a good case study of a simple transformation that may turn out to be much more work than expected, based on representation choices. In the second part of this chapter, we consider an alternate choice that produces a more pleasant experience. *)
307
308
309 (** * Parametric Higher-Order Abstract Syntax *)
310
311 (** In contrast to first-order encodings, %\index{higher-order syntax}\emph{%#<i>#higher-order#</i>#%}% encodings avoid explicit modeling of variable identity. Instead, the binding constructs of an %\index{object language}\emph{%#<i>#object language#</i>#%}% (the language being formalized) can be represented using the binding constructs of the %\index{meta language}\emph{%#<i>#meta language#</i>#%}% (the language in which the formalization is done). The best known higher-order encoding is called %\index{higher-order abstract syntax}\index{HOAS}\emph{%#<i>#higher-order abstract syntax (HOAS)#</i>#%}~\cite{HOAS}%, and we can start by attempting to apply it directly in Coq. *)
312
313 Module HigherOrder.
314
315 (** With HOAS, each object language binding construct is represented with a %\emph{%#<i>#function#</i>#%}% of the meta language. Here is what we get if we apply that idea within an inductive definition of term syntax. *)
316
317 (** %\vspace{-.15in}%[[
318 Inductive term : type -> Type :=
319 | Const : nat -> term Nat
320 | Plus : term Nat -> term Nat -> term Nat
321
322 | Abs : forall dom ran, (term dom -> term ran) -> term (Func dom ran)
323 | App : forall dom ran, term (Func dom ran) -> term dom -> term ran
324
325 | Let : forall t1 t2, term t1 -> (term t1 -> term t2) -> term t2.
326 ]]
327
328 However, Coq rejects this definition for failing to meet the %\index{strict positivity restriction}%strict positivity restriction. For instance, the constructor [Abs] takes an argument that is a function over the same type family [term] that we are defining. Inductive definitions of this kind can be used to write non-terminating Gallina programs, which breaks the consistency of Coq's logic.
329
330 An alternate higher-order encoding is %\index{parametric higher-order abstract syntax}\index{PHOAS}\emph{%#<i>#parametric HOAS#</i>#%}%, as introduced by Washburn and Weirich%~\cite{BGB}% for Haskell and tweaked by me%~\cite{PhoasICFP08}% for use in Coq. Here the idea is to parametrize the syntax type by a type family standing for a %\emph{%#<i>#representation of variables#</i>#%}%. *)
331
332 Section var.
333 Variable var : type -> Type.
334
335 Inductive term : type -> Type :=
336 | Var : forall t, var t -> term t
337
338 | Const : nat -> term Nat
339 | Plus : term Nat -> term Nat -> term Nat
340
341 | Abs : forall dom ran, (var dom -> term ran) -> term (Func dom ran)
342 | App : forall dom ran, term (Func dom ran) -> term dom -> term ran
343
344 | Let : forall t1 t2, term t1 -> (var t1 -> term t2) -> term t2.
345 End var.
346
347 Implicit Arguments Var [var t].
348 Implicit Arguments Const [var].
349 Implicit Arguments Abs [var dom ran].
350
351 (** Coq accepts this definition because our embedded functions now merely take %\emph{%#<i>#variables#</i>#%}% as arguments, instead of arbitrary terms. One might wonder whether there is an easy loophole to exploit here, instantiating the parameter [var] as [term] itself. However, to do that, we would need to choose a variable representation for this nested mention of [term], and so on through an infinite descent into [term] arguments.
352
353 We write the final type of a closed term using polymorphic quantification over all possible choices of [var] type family. *)
354
355 Definition Term t := forall var, term var t.
356
357 (** Here are the new representations of the example terms from the last section. Note how each is written as a function over a [var] choice, such that the specific choice has no impact on the %\emph{%#<i>#structure#</i>#%}% of the term. *)
358
359 Example add : Term (Func Nat (Func Nat Nat)) := fun var =>
360 Abs (fun x => Abs (fun y => Plus (Var x) (Var y))).
361
362 Example three_the_hard_way : Term Nat := fun var =>
363 App (App (add var) (Const 1)) (Const 2).
364
365 (** The argument [var] does not even appear in the function body for [add]. How can that be? By giving our terms expressive types, we allow Coq to infer many arguments for us. In fact, we do not even need to name the [var] argument! Even though these formal parameters appear as underscores, they %\emph{%#<i>#are#</i>#%}% mentioned in the function bodies that type inference calculates. *)
366
367 Example add' : Term (Func Nat (Func Nat Nat)) := fun _ =>
368 Abs (fun x => Abs (fun y => Plus (Var x) (Var y))).
369
370 Example three_the_hard_way' : Term Nat := fun _ =>
371 App (App (add' _) (Const 1)) (Const 2).
372
373
374 (** ** Functional Programming with PHOAS *)
375
376 (** It may not be at all obvious that the PHOAS representation admits the crucial computable operations. The key to effective deconstruction of PHOAS terms is one principle: treat the [var] parameter as an unconstrained choice of %\emph{%#<i>#which data should be annotated on each variable#</i>#%}%. We will begin with a simple example, that of counting how many variable nodes appear in a PHOAS term. This operation requires no data annotated on variables, so we simply annotate variables with [unit] values. Note that, when we go under binders in the cases for [Abs] and [Let], we must provide the data value to annotate on the new variable we pass beneath. For our current choice of [unit] data, we always pass [tt]. *)
377
378 Fixpoint countVars t (e : term (fun _ => unit) t) : nat :=
379 match e with
380 | Var _ _ => 1
381
382 | Const _ => 0
383 | Plus e1 e2 => countVars e1 + countVars e2
384
385 | Abs _ _ e1 => countVars (e1 tt)
386 | App _ _ e1 e2 => countVars e1 + countVars e2
387
388 | Let _ _ e1 e2 => countVars e1 + countVars (e2 tt)
389 end.
390
391 (** The above definition may seem a bit peculiar. What gave us the right to represent variables as [unit] values? Recall that our final representation of closed terms is as polymorphic functions. We merely specialize a closed term to exactly the right variable representation for the transformation we wish to perform. *)
392
393 Definition CountVars t (E : Term t) := countVars (E (fun _ => unit)).
394
395 (** It is easy to test that [CountVars] operates properly. *)
396
397 Eval compute in CountVars three_the_hard_way.
398 (** %\vspace{-.15in}%[[
399 = 2
400 ]]
401 *)
402
403 (** In fact, PHOAS can be used anywhere that first-order representations can. We will not go into all the details here, but the intuition is that it is possible to interconvert between PHOAS and any reasonable first-order representation. Here is a suggestive example, translating PHOAS terms into strings giving a first-order rendering. To implement this translation, the key insight is to tag variables with strings, giving their names. The function takes as an additional input a string giving the name to be assigned to the next variable introduced. We evolve this name by adding a prime to its end. To avoid getting bogged down in orthogonal details, we render all constants as the string ["N"]. *)
404
405 Require Import String.
406 Open Scope string_scope.
407
408 Fixpoint pretty t (e : term (fun _ => string) t) (x : string) : string :=
409 match e with
410 | Var _ s => s
411
412 | Const _ => "N"
413 | Plus e1 e2 => "(" ++ pretty e1 x ++ " + " ++ pretty e2 x ++ ")"
414
415 | Abs _ _ e1 => "(fun " ++ x ++ " => " ++ pretty (e1 x) (x ++ "'") ++ ")"
416 | App _ _ e1 e2 => "(" ++ pretty e1 x ++ " " ++ pretty e2 x ++ ")"
417
418 | Let _ _ e1 e2 => "(let " ++ x ++ " = " ++ pretty e1 x ++ " in "
419 ++ pretty (e2 x) (x ++ "'") ++ ")"
420 end.
421
422 Definition Pretty t (E : Term t) := pretty (E (fun _ => string)) "x".
423
424 Eval compute in Pretty three_the_hard_way.
425 (** %\vspace{-.15in}%[[
426 = "(((fun x => (fun x' => (x + x'))) N) N)"
427 ]]
428 *)
429
430 (** However, it is not necessary to convert to first-order form to support many common operations on terms. For instance, we can implement substitution of one term in another. The key insight here is to %\emph{%#<i>#tag variables with terms#</i>#%}%, so that, on encountering a variable, we can simply replace it by the term in its tag. We will call this function initially on a term with exactly one free variable, tagged with the appropriate substitute. During recursion, new variables are added, but they are only tagged with their own term equivalents. Note that this function [squash] is parametrized over a specific [var] choice. *)
431
432 Fixpoint squash var t (e : term (term var) t) : term var t :=
433 match e with
434 | Var _ e1 => e1
435
436 | Const n => Const n
437 | Plus e1 e2 => Plus (squash e1) (squash e2)
438
439 | Abs _ _ e1 => Abs (fun x => squash (e1 (Var x)))
440 | App _ _ e1 e2 => App (squash e1) (squash e2)
441
442 | Let _ _ e1 e2 => Let (squash e1) (fun x => squash (e2 (Var x)))
443 end.
444
445 (** To define the final substitution function over terms with single free variables, we define [Term1], an analogue to [Term] that we defined before for closed terms. *)
446
447 Definition Term1 (t1 t2 : type) := forall var, var t1 -> term var t2.
448
449 (** Substitution is defined by (1) instantiating a [Term1] to tag variables with terms and (2) applying the result to a specific term to be substituted. Note how the parameter [var] of [squash] is instantiated: the body of [Subst] is itself a polymorphic quantification over [var], standing for a variable tag choice in the output term; and we use that input to compute a tag choice for the input term. *)
450
451 Definition Subst (t1 t2 : type) (E : Term1 t1 t2) (E' : Term t1) : Term t2 :=
452 fun var => squash (E (term var) (E' var)).
453
454 Eval compute in Subst (fun _ x => Plus (Var x) (Const 3)) three_the_hard_way.
455 (** %\vspace{-.15in}%[[
456 = fun var : type -> Type =>
457 Plus
458 (App
459 (App
460 (Abs
461 (fun x : var Nat =>
462 Abs (fun y : var Nat => Plus (Var x) (Var y))))
463 (Const 1)) (Const 2)) (Const 3)
464 ]]
465
466 One further development, which may seem surprising at first, is that we can also implement a usual term denotation function, when we %\emph{%#<i>#tag variables with their denotations#</i>#%}%. *)
467
468 Fixpoint termDenote t (e : term typeDenote t) : typeDenote t :=
469 match e with
470 | Var _ v => v
471
472 | Const n => n
473 | Plus e1 e2 => termDenote e1 + termDenote e2
474
475 | Abs _ _ e1 => fun x => termDenote (e1 x)
476 | App _ _ e1 e2 => (termDenote e1) (termDenote e2)
477
478 | Let _ _ e1 e2 => termDenote (e2 (termDenote e1))
479 end.
480
481 Definition TermDenote t (E : Term t) : typeDenote t :=
482 termDenote (E typeDenote).
483
484 Eval compute in TermDenote three_the_hard_way.
485 (** %\vspace{-.15in}%[[
486 = 3
487 ]]
488
489 To summarize, the PHOAS representation has all the expressive power of more standard first-order encodings, and a variety of translations are actually much more pleasant to implement than usual, thanks to the novel ability to tag variables with data. *)
490
491
492 (** ** Verifying Program Transformations *)
493
494 (** Let us now revisit the three example program transformations from the last section. Each is easy to implement with PHOAS, and the last is substantially easier than with first-order representations.
495
496 First, we have the recursive identity function, following the same pattern as in the previous subsection, with a helper function, polymorphic in a tag choice; and a final function that instantiates the choice appropriately. *)
497
498 Fixpoint ident var t (e : term var t) : term var t :=
499 match e with
500 | Var _ x => Var x
501
502 | Const n => Const n
503 | Plus e1 e2 => Plus (ident e1) (ident e2)
504
505 | Abs _ _ e1 => Abs (fun x => ident (e1 x))
506 | App _ _ e1 e2 => App (ident e1) (ident e2)
507
508 | Let _ _ e1 e2 => Let (ident e1) (fun x => ident (e2 x))
509 end.
510
511 Definition Ident t (E : Term t) : Term t := fun var =>
512 ident (E var).
513
514 (** Proving correctness is both easier and harder than in the last section, easier because we do not need to manipulate substitutions, and harder because we do the induction in an extra lemma about [ident], to establish the correctness theorem for [Ident]. *)
515
516 Lemma identSound : forall t (e : term typeDenote t),
517 termDenote (ident e) = termDenote e.
518 induction e; t.
519 Qed.
520
521 Theorem IdentSound : forall t (E : Term t),
522 TermDenote (Ident E) = TermDenote E.
523 intros; apply identSound.
524 Qed.
525
526 (** The translation of the constant-folding function and its proof work more or less the same way. *)
527
528 Fixpoint cfold var t (e : term var t) : term var t :=
529 match e with
530 | Plus e1 e2 =>
531 let e1' := cfold e1 in
532 let e2' := cfold e2 in
533 match e1', e2' with
534 | Const n1, Const n2 => Const (n1 + n2)
535 | _, _ => Plus e1' e2'
536 end
537
538 | Abs _ _ e1 => Abs (fun x => cfold (e1 x))
539 | App _ _ e1 e2 => App (cfold e1) (cfold e2)
540
541 | Let _ _ e1 e2 => Let (cfold e1) (fun x => cfold (e2 x))
542
543 | e => e
544 end.
545
546 Definition Cfold t (E : Term t) : Term t := fun var =>
547 cfold (E var).
548
549 Lemma cfoldSound : forall t (e : term typeDenote t),
550 termDenote (cfold e) = termDenote e.
551 induction e; t;
552 repeat (match goal with
553 | [ |- context[match ?E with
554 | Var _ _ => _ | Const _ => _ | Plus _ _ => _
555 | Abs _ _ _ => _ | App _ _ _ _ => _
556 | Let _ _ _ _ => _
557 end] ] => dep_destruct E
558 end; t).
559 Qed.
560
561 Theorem CfoldSound : forall t (E : Term t),
562 TermDenote (Cfold E) = TermDenote E.
563 intros; apply cfoldSound.
564 Qed.
565
566 (** Things get more interesting in the [Let]-removal optimization. Our recursive helper function adapts the key idea from our earlier definitions of [squash] and [Subst]: tag variables with terms. We have a straightforward generalization of [squash], where only the [Let] case has changed, to tag the new variable with the term it is bound to, rather than just tagging the variable with itself as a term. *)
567
568 Fixpoint unlet var t (e : term (term var) t) : term var t :=
569 match e with
570 | Var _ e1 => e1
571
572 | Const n => Const n
573 | Plus e1 e2 => Plus (unlet e1) (unlet e2)
574
575 | Abs _ _ e1 => Abs (fun x => unlet (e1 (Var x)))
576 | App _ _ e1 e2 => App (unlet e1) (unlet e2)
577
578 | Let _ _ e1 e2 => unlet (e2 (unlet e1))
579 end.
580
581 Definition Unlet t (E : Term t) : Term t := fun var =>
582 unlet (E (term var)).
583
584 (** We can test [Unlet] first on an uninteresting example, [three_the_hard_way], which does not use [Let]. *)
585
586 Eval compute in Unlet three_the_hard_way.
587 (** %\vspace{-.15in}%[[
588 = fun var : type -> Type =>
589 App
590 (App
591 (Abs
592 (fun x : var Nat =>
593 Abs (fun x0 : var Nat => Plus (Var x) (Var x0))))
594 (Const 1)) (Const 2)
595 ]]
596
597 Next, we try a more interesting example, with some extra [Let]s introduced in [three_the_hard_way]. *)
598
599 Definition three_a_harder_way : Term Nat := fun _ =>
600 Let (Const 1) (fun x => Let (Const 2) (fun y => App (App (add _) (Var x)) (Var y))).
601
602 Eval compute in Unlet three_a_harder_way.
603 (** %\vspace{-.15in}%[[
604 = fun var : type -> Type =>
605 App
606 (App
607 (Abs
608 (fun x : var Nat =>
609 Abs (fun x0 : var Nat => Plus (Var x) (Var x0))))
610 (Const 1)) (Const 2)
611 ]]
612
613 The output is the same as in the previous test, confirming that [Unlet] operates properly here.
614
615 Now we need to state a correctness theorem for [Unlet], based on an inductively proved lemma about [unlet]. It is not at all obvious how to arrive at a proper induction principle for the lemma. The problem is that we want to relate two instantiations of the same [Term], in a way where we know they share the same structure. Note that, while [Unlet] is defined to consider all possible [var] choices in the output term, the correctness proof conveniently only depends on the case of [var := typeDenote]. Thus, one parallel instantiation will set [var := typeDenote], to take the denotation of the original term. The other parallel instantiation will set [var := term typeDenote], to perform the [unlet] transformation in the original term.
616
617 Here is a relation formalizing the idea that two terms are structurally the same, differing only by replacing the variable data of one with another isomorphic set of variable data in some possibly different type family. *)
618
619 Section wf.
620 Variables var1 var2 : type -> Type.
621
622 (** To formalize the tag isomorphism, we will use lists of values with the following record type. Each entry has an object language type and an appropriate tag for that type, in each of the two tag families [var1] and [var2]. *)
623
624 Record varEntry := {
625 Ty : type;
626 First : var1 Ty;
627 Second : var2 Ty
628 }.
629
630 (** Here is the inductive relation definition. An instance [wf G e1 e2] asserts that terms [e1] and [e2] are equivalent up to the variable tag isomorphism [G]. Note how the [Var] rule looks up an entry in [G], and the [Abs] and [Let] rules include recursive [wf] invocations inside the scopes of quantifiers to introduce parallel tag values to be considered as isomorphic. *)
631
632 Inductive wf : list varEntry -> forall t, term var1 t -> term var2 t -> Prop :=
633 | WfVar : forall G t x x', In {| Ty := t; First := x; Second := x' |} G
634 -> wf G (Var x) (Var x')
635
636 | WfConst : forall G n, wf G (Const n) (Const n)
637
638 | WfPlus : forall G e1 e2 e1' e2', wf G e1 e1'
639 -> wf G e2 e2'
640 -> wf G (Plus e1 e2) (Plus e1' e2')
641
642 | WfAbs : forall G dom ran (e1 : _ dom -> term _ ran) e1',
643 (forall x1 x2, wf ({| First := x1; Second := x2 |} :: G) (e1 x1) (e1' x2))
644 -> wf G (Abs e1) (Abs e1')
645
646 | WfApp : forall G dom ran (e1 : term _ (Func dom ran)) (e2 : term _ dom) e1' e2',
647 wf G e1 e1'
648 -> wf G e2 e2'
649 -> wf G (App e1 e2) (App e1' e2')
650
651 | WfLet : forall G t1 t2 e1 e1' (e2 : _ t1 -> term _ t2) e2', wf G e1 e1'
652 -> (forall x1 x2, wf ({| First := x1; Second := x2 |} :: G) (e2 x1) (e2' x2))
653 -> wf G (Let e1 e2) (Let e1' e2').
654 End wf.
655
656 (** We can state a well-formedness condition for closed terms: for any two choices of tag type families, the parallel instantiations belong to the [wf] relation, starting from an empty variable isomorphism. *)
657
658 Definition Wf t (E : Term t) := forall var1 var2, wf nil (E var1) (E var2).
659
660 (** After digesting the syntactic details of [Wf], it is probably not hard to see that reasonable term encodings will satsify it. For example: *)
661
662 Theorem three_the_hard_way_Wf : Wf three_the_hard_way.
663 red; intros; repeat match goal with
664 | [ |- wf _ _ _ ] => constructor; intros
665 end; intuition.
666 Qed.
667
668 (** Now we are ready to give a nice simple proof of correctness for [unlet]. First, we add one hint to apply a standard library theorem connecting [Forall], a higher-order predicate asserting that every element of a list satisfies some property; and [In], the list membership predicate. *)
669
670 Hint Extern 1 => match goal with
671 | [ H1 : Forall _ _, H2 : In _ _ |- _ ] => apply (Forall_In H1 _ H2)
672 end.
673
674 (** The rest of the proof is about as automated as we could hope for. *)
675
676 Lemma unletSound : forall G t (e1 : term _ t) e2,
677 wf G e1 e2
678 -> Forall (fun ve => termDenote (First ve) = Second ve) G
679 -> termDenote (unlet e1) = termDenote e2.
680 induction 1; t.
681 Qed.
682
683 Theorem UnletSound : forall t (E : Term t), Wf E
684 -> TermDenote (Unlet E) = TermDenote E.
685 intros; eapply unletSound; eauto.
686 Qed.
687
688 (** With this example, it is not obvious that the PHOAS encoding is more tractable than dependent de Bruijn. Where the de Bruijn version had [lift] and its helper functions, here we have [Wf] and its auxiliary definitions. In practice, [Wf] is defined once per object language, while such operations as [lift] often need to operate differently for different examples, forcing new implementations for new transformations.
689
690 The reader may also have come up with another objection: via Curry-Howard, [wf] proofs may be thought of as first-order encodings of term syntax! For instance, the [In] hypothesis of rule [WfVar] is equivalent to a [member] value. There is some merit to this objection. However, as the proofs above show, we are able to reason about transformations using first-order representation only for their inputs, not their outputs. Furthermore, explicit numbering of variables remains absent from the proofs.
691
692 Have we really avoided first-order reasoning about the output terms of translations? The answer depends on some subtle issues, which deserve a subsection of their own. *)
693
694
695 (** ** Establishing Term Well-Formedness *)
696
697 (** Can there be values of type [Term t] that are not well-formed according to [Wf]? We expect that Gallina satisfies key %\index{parametricity}\emph{%#<i>#parametricity#</i>#%}~\cite{parametricity}% properties, which indicate how polymorphic types may only be inhabited by specific values. We omit details of parametricity theorems here, but [forall t (E : Term t), Wf E] follows the flavor of such theorems. One option would be to assert that fact as an axiom, %``%#"#proving#"#%''% that any output of any of our translations is well-formed. We could even prove the soundness of the theorem on paper meta-theoretically, say by considering some particular model of CIC.
698
699 To be more cautious, we could prove [Wf] for every term that interests us, threading such proofs through all transformations. Here is an example exercise of that kind, for [Unlet].
700
701 First, we prove that [wf] is %\emph{%#<i>#monotone#</i>#%}%, in that a given instance continues to hold as we add new variable pairs to the variable isomorphism. *)
702
703 Hint Constructors wf.
704 Hint Extern 1 (In _ _) => simpl; tauto.
705 Hint Extern 1 (Forall _ _) => eapply Forall_weaken; [ eassumption | simpl ].
706
707 Lemma wf_monotone : forall var1 var2 G t (e1 : term var1 t) (e2 : term var2 t),
708 wf G e1 e2
709 -> forall G', Forall (fun x => In x G') G
710 -> wf G' e1 e2.
711 induction 1; t; auto 6.
712 Qed.
713
714 Hint Resolve wf_monotone Forall_In'.
715
716 (** Now we are ready to prove that [unlet] preserves any [wf] instance. The key invariant has to do with the parallel execution of [unlet] on two different [var] instantiations of a particular term. Since [unlet] uses [term] as the type of variable data, our variable isomorphism context [G] contains pairs of terms, which, conveniently enough, allows us to state the invariant that any pair of terms in the context is also related by [wf]. *)
717
718 Hint Extern 1 (wf _ _ _) => progress simpl.
719
720 Lemma unletWf : forall var1 var2 G t (e1 : term (term var1) t) (e2 : term (term var2) t),
721 wf G e1 e2
722 -> forall G', Forall (fun ve => wf G' (First ve) (Second ve)) G
723 -> wf G' (unlet e1) (unlet e2).
724 induction 1; t; eauto 9.
725 Qed.
726
727 (** Repackaging [unletWf] into a theorem about [Wf] and [Unlet] is straightforward. *)
728
729 Theorem UnletWf : forall t (E : Term t), Wf E
730 -> Wf (Unlet E).
731 red; intros; apply unletWf with nil; auto.
732 Qed.
733
734 (** This example demonstrates how we may need to use reasoning reminiscent of that associated with first-order representations, though the bookkeeping details are generally easier to manage, and bookkeeping theorems may generally be proved separately from the independently interesting theorems about program transformations. *)
735
736
737 (** ** A Few More Remarks *)
738
739 (** Higher-order encodings derive their strength from reuse of the meta language's binding constructs. As a result, we can write encoded terms so that they look very similar to their informal counterparts, without variable numbering schemes like for de Bruijn indices. The example encodings above have demonstrated this fact, but modulo the clunkiness of explicit use of the constructors of [term]. After defining a few new Coq syntax notations, we can work with terms in an even more standard form. *)
740
741 Infix "-->" := Func (right associativity, at level 52).
742
743 Notation "^" := Var.
744 Notation "#" := Const.
745 Infix "@" := App (left associativity, at level 50).
746 Infix "@+" := Plus (left associativity, at level 50).
747 Notation "\ x : t , e" := (Abs (dom := t) (fun x => e))
748 (no associativity, at level 51, x at level 0).
749 Notation "[ e ]" := (fun _ => e).
750
751 Example Add : Term (Nat --> Nat --> Nat) :=
752 [\x : Nat, \y : Nat, ^x @+ ^y].
753
754 Example Three_the_hard_way : Term Nat :=
755 [Add _ @ #1 @ #2].
756
757 Eval compute in TermDenote Three_the_hard_way.
758 (** %\vspace{-.15in}%[[
759 = 3
760 ]]
761 *)
762
763 End HigherOrder.
764
765 (** The PHOAS approach shines here because we are working with an object language that has an easy embedding into Coq. That is, there is a straightforward recursive function translating object terms into terms of Gallina. All Gallina programs terminate, so clearly we cannot hope to find such embeddings for Turing-complete languages; and non-Turing-complete languages may still require much more involved translations. I have some work%~\cite{CompilerPOPL10}% on modeling semantics of Turing-complete languages with PHOAS, but my impression is that there are many more advances left to be made in this field, possibly with completely new term representations that we have not yet been clever enough to think up. *)