Meta-F*: Proof Automation with SMT, Tactics, and Metaprograms

We introduce Meta-F*, a tactics and metaprogramming framework for the F* program verifier. The main novelty of Meta-F* is allowing the use of tactics and metaprogramming to discharge assertions not solvable by SMT, or to just simplify them into well-behaved SMT fragments. Plus, Meta-F* can be used to generate verified code automatically. Meta-F* is implemented as an F* effect, which, given the powerful effect system of F*, heavily increases code reuse and even enables the lightweight verification of metaprograms. Metaprograms can be either interpreted, or compiled to efficient native code that can be dynamically loaded into the F* type-checker and can interoperate with interpreted code. Evaluation on realistic case studies shows that Meta-F* provides substantial gains in proof development, efficiency, and robustness.Comment: Full version of ESOP'19 pape

Refinement Types for Logical Frameworks and Their Interpretation as Proof Irrelevance

Refinement types sharpen systems of simple and dependent types by offering expressive means to more precisely classify well-typed terms. We present a system of refinement types for LF in the style of recent formulations where only canonical forms are well-typed. Both the usual LF rules and the rules for type refinements are bidirectional, leading to a straightforward proof of decidability of typechecking even in the presence of intersection types. Because we insist on canonical forms, structural rules for subtyping can now be derived rather than being assumed as primitive. We illustrate the expressive power of our system with examples and validate its design by demonstrating a precise correspondence with traditional presentations of subtyping. Proof irrelevance provides a mechanism for selectively hiding the identities of terms in type theories. We show that LF refinement types can be interpreted as predicates using proof irrelevance, establishing a uniform relationship between two previously studied concepts in type theory. The interpretation and its correctness proof are surprisingly complex, lending support to the claim that refinement types are a fundamental construct rather than just a convenient surface syntax for certain uses of proof irrelevance

Linearly Typed Dyadic Group Sessions for Building Multiparty Sessions

Traditionally, each party in a (dyadic or multiparty) session implements exactly one role specified in the type of the session. We refer to this kind of session as an individual session (i-session). As a generalization of i-session, a group session (g-session) is one in which each party may implement a group of roles based on one channel. In particular, each of the two parties involved in a dyadic g-session implements either a group of roles or its complement. In this paper, we present a formalization of g-sessions in a multi-threaded lambda-calculus (MTLC) equipped with a linear type system, establishing for the MTLC both type preservation and global progress. As this formulated MTLC can be readily embedded into ATS, a full-fledged language with a functional programming core that supports both dependent types (of DML-style) and linear types, we obtain a direct implementation of linearly typed g-sessions in ATS. The primary contribution of the paper lies in both of the identification of g-sessions as a fundamental building block for multiparty sessions and the theoretical development in support of this identification.Comment: This paper can be seen as the pre-sequel to classical linear multirole logic (CLML). arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1603.0372

A Deductive Approach towards Reasoning about Algebraic Transition Systems

Algebraic transition systems are extended from labeled transition systems by allowing transitions labeled by algebraic equations for modeling more complex systems in detail. We present a deductive approach for specifying and verifying algebraic transition systems. We modify the standard dynamic logic by introducing algebraic equations into modalities. Algebraic transition systems are embedded in modalities of logic formulas which specify properties of algebraic transition systems. The semantics of modalities and formulas is defined with solutions of algebraic equations. A proof system for this logic is constructed to verify properties of algebraic transition systems. The proof system combines with inference rules decision procedures on the theory of polynomial ideals to reduce a proof-search problem to an algebraic computation problem. The proof system proves to be sound but inherently incomplete. Finally, a typical example illustrates that reasoning about algebraic transition systems with our approach is feasible