Initial Semantics for Reduction Rules

We give an algebraic characterization of the syntax and operational semantics of a class of simply-typed languages, such as the language PCF: we characterize simply-typed syntax with variable binding and equipped with reduction rules via a universal property, namely as the initial object of some category of models. For this purpose, we employ techniques developed in two previous works: in the first work we model syntactic translations between languages over different sets of types as initial morphisms in a category of models. In the second work we characterize untyped syntax with reduction rules as initial object in a category of models. In the present work, we combine the techniques used earlier in order to characterize simply-typed syntax with reduction rules as initial object in a category. The universal property yields an operator which allows to specify translations---that are semantically faithful by construction---between languages over possibly different sets of types. As an example, we upgrade a translation from PCF to the untyped lambda calculus, given in previous work, to account for reduction in the source and target. Specifically, we specify a reduction semantics in the source and target language through suitable rules. By equipping the untyped lambda calculus with the structure of a model of PCF, initiality yields a translation from PCF to the lambda calculus, that is faithful with respect to the reduction semantics specified by the rules. This paper is an extended version of an article published in the proceedings of WoLLIC 2012.Comment: Extended version of arXiv:1206.4547, proves a variant of a result of PhD thesis arXiv:1206.455

Extended Initiality for Typed Abstract Syntax

Initial Semantics aims at interpreting the syntax associated to a signature as the initial object of some category of 'models', yielding induction and recursion principles for abstract syntax. Zsid\'o proves an initiality result for simply-typed syntax: given a signature S, the abstract syntax associated to S constitutes the initial object in a category of models of S in monads. However, the iteration principle her theorem provides only accounts for translations between two languages over a fixed set of object types. We generalize Zsid\'o's notion of model such that object types may vary, yielding a larger category, while preserving initiality of the syntax therein. Thus we obtain an extended initiality theorem for typed abstract syntax, in which translations between terms over different types can be specified via the associated category-theoretic iteration operator as an initial morphism. Our definitions ensure that translations specified via initiality are type-safe, i.e. compatible with the typing in the source and target language in the obvious sense. Our main example is given via the propositions-as-types paradigm: we specify propositions and inference rules of classical and intuitionistic propositional logics through their respective typed signatures. Afterwards we use the category--theoretic iteration operator to specify a double negation translation from the former to the latter. A second example is given by the signature of PCF. For this particular case, we formalize the theorem in the proof assistant Coq. Afterwards we specify, via the category-theoretic iteration operator, translations from PCF to the untyped lambda calculus

Term Graph Representations for Cyclic Lambda-Terms

We study various representations for cyclic lambda-terms as higher-order or as first-order term graphs. We focus on the relation between `lambda-higher-order term graphs' (lambda-ho-term-graphs), which are first-order term graphs endowed with a well-behaved scope function, and their representations as `lambda-term-graphs', which are plain first-order term graphs with scope-delimiter vertices that meet certain scoping requirements. Specifically we tackle the question: Which class of first-order term graphs admits a faithful embedding of lambda-ho-term-graphs in the sense that: (i) the homomorphism-based sharing-order on lambda-ho-term-graphs is preserved and reflected, and (ii) the image of the embedding corresponds closely to a natural class (of lambda-term-graphs) that is closed under homomorphism? We systematically examine whether a number of classes of lambda-term-graphs have this property, and we find a particular class of lambda-term-graphs that satisfies this criterion. Term graphs of this class are built from application, abstraction, variable, and scope-delimiter vertices, and have the characteristic feature that the latter two kinds of vertices have back-links to the corresponding abstraction. This result puts a handle on the concept of subterm sharing for higher-order term graphs, both theoretically and algorithmically: We obtain an easily implementable method for obtaining the maximally shared form of lambda-ho-term-graphs. Also, we open up the possibility to pull back properties from first-order term graphs to lambda-ho-term-graphs. In fact we prove this for the property of the sharing-order successors of a given term graph to be a complete lattice with respect to the sharing order. This report extends the paper with the same title (http://arxiv.org/abs/1302.6338v1) in the proceedings of the workshop TERMGRAPH 2013.Comment: 35 pages. report extending proceedings article on arXiv:1302.6338 (changes with respect to version v2: added section 8, modified Proposition 2.4, added Remark 2.5, added Corollary 7.11, modified figures in the conclusion