Resource Transition Systems and Full Abstraction for Linear Higher-Order Effectful Programs

International audienceWe investigate program equivalence for linear higher-order (sequential) languages endowed with primitives for computational effects. More specifically, we study operationally-based notions of program equivalence for a linear λ-calculus with explicit copying and algebraic effects à la Plotkin and Power. Such a calculus makes explicit the interaction between copying and linearity, which are intensional aspects of computation, with effects, which are, instead, extensional. We review some of the notions of equivalences for linear calculi proposed in the literature and show their limitations when applied to effectful calculi where copying is a first-class citizen. We then introduce resource transition systems, namely transition systems whose states are built over tuples of programs representing the available resources, as an operational semantics accounting for both intensional and extensional interactive behaviours of programs. Our main result is a sound and complete characterization of contextual equivalence as trace equivalence defined on top of resource transition systems

Resource transition systems and full abstraction for linear higher-order effectful programs

We investigate program equivalence for linear higher-order (sequential) languages endowed with primitives for computational effects. More specifically, we study operationally-based notions of program equivalence for a linear \u3b3-calculus with explicit copying and algebraic effects \ue0 la Plotkin and Power. Such a calculus makes explicit the interaction between copying and linearity, which are intensional aspects of computation, with effects, which are, instead, extensional. We review some of the notions of equivalences for linear calculi proposed in the literature and show their limitations when applied to effectful calculi where copying is a first-class citizen. We then introduce resource transition systems, namely transition systems whose states are built over tuples of programs representing the available resources, as an operational semantics accounting for both intensional and extensional interactive behaviours of programs. Our main result is a sound and complete characterization of contextual equivalence as trace equivalence defined on top of resource transition systems

A Complete Normal-Form Bisimilarity for Algebraic Effects and Handlers

We present a complete coinductive syntactic theory for an untyped calculus of algebraic operations and handlers, a relatively recent concept that augments a programming language with unprecedented flexibility to define, combine and interpret computational effects. Our theory takes the form of a normal-form bisimilarity and its soundness w.r.t. contextual equivalence hinges on using so-called context variables to test evaluation contexts comprising normal forms other than values. The theory is formulated in purely syntactic elementary terms and its completeness demonstrates the discriminating power of handlers. It crucially takes advantage of the clean separation of effect handling code from effect raising construct, a distinctive feature of algebraic effects, not present in other closely related control structures such as delimited-control operators

On Model-Checking Higher-Order Effectful Programs (Long Version)

Model-checking is one of the most powerful techniques for verifying systems and programs, which since the pioneering results by Knapik et al., Ong, and Kobayashi, is known to be applicable to functional programs with higher-order types against properties expressed by formulas of monadic second-order logic. What happens when the program in question, in addition to higher-order functions, also exhibits algebraic effects such as probabilistic choice or global store? The results in the literature range from those, mostly positive, about nondeterministic effects, to those about probabilistic effects, in the presence of which even mere reachability becomes undecidable. This work takes a fresh and general look at the problem, first of all showing that there is an elegant and natural way of viewing higher-order programs producing algebraic effects as ordinary higher-order recursion schemes. We then move on to consider effect handlers, showing that in their presence the model checking problem is bound to be undecidable in the general case, while it stays decidable when handlers have a simple syntactic form, still sufficient to capture so-called generic effects. Along the way we hint at how a general specification language could look like, this way justifying some of the results in the literature, and deriving new ones

Resource Transition Systems and Full Abstraction for Linear Higher-Order Effectful Programs

International audienceWe investigate program equivalence for linear higher-order (sequential) languages endowed with primitives for computational effects. More specifically, we study operationally-based notions of program equivalence for a linear λ-calculus with explicit copying and algebraic effects à la Plotkin and Power. Such a calculus makes explicit the interaction between copying and linearity, which are intensional aspects of computation, with effects, which are, instead, extensional. We review some of the notions of equivalences for linear calculi proposed in the literature and show their limitations when applied to effectful calculi where copying is a first-class citizen. We then introduce resource transition systems, namely transition systems whose states are built over tuples of programs representing the available resources, as an operational semantics accounting for both intensional and extensional interactive behaviours of programs. Our main result is a sound and complete characterization of contextual equivalence as trace equivalence defined on top of resource transition systems

Verifying an Effect-Handler-Based Define-By-Run Reverse-Mode AD Library

We apply program verification technology to the problem of specifying and verifying automatic differentiation (AD) algorithms. We focus on ``define-by-run'', a style of AD where the program that must be differentiated is executed and monitored by the automatic differentiation algorithm. We begin by asking, ``what is an implementation of AD?'' and ``what does it mean for an implementation of AD to be correct?'' We answer these questions both at an informal level, in precise English prose, and at a formal level, using types and logical assertions. After answering these broad questions, we focus on a specific implementation of AD, which involves a number of subtle programming language features, including dynamically allocated mutable state, first-class functions, and effect handlers. We present a machine-checked proof, expressed in a modern variant of Separation Logic, of its correctness. We view this result as an advanced exercise in program verification, with potential future applications to the verification of more realistic automatic differentiation systems and of other software components that exploit delimited control effects

Dijkstra monads for all

This paper proposes a general semantic framework for verifying programs with arbitrary monadic side-effects using Dijkstra monads, which we define as monad-like structures indexed by a specification monad. We prove that any monad morphism between a computational monad and a specification monad gives rise to a Dijkstra monad, which provides great flexibility for obtaining Dijkstra monads tailored to the verification task at hand. We moreover show that a large variety of specification monads can be obtained by applying monad transformers to various base specification monads, including predicate transformers and Hoare-style pre- and postconditions. For defining correct monad transformers, we propose a language inspired by Moggi's monadic metalanguage that is parameterized by a dependent type theory. We also develop a notion of algebraic operations for Dijkstra monads, and start to investigate two ways of also accommodating effect handlers. We implement our framework in both Coq and F*, and illustrate that it supports a wide variety of verification styles for effects such as exceptions, nondeterminism, state, input-output, and general recursion

Foundations of Software Science and Computation Structures

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Foundations of Software Science and Computational Structures, FOSSACS 2019, which took place in Prague, Czech Republic, in April 2019, held as part of the European Joint Conference on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2019. The 29 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 85 submissions. They deal with foundational research with a clear significance for software science