The wonderland of reflections

A fundamental fact for the algebraic theory of constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) over a fixed template is that pp-interpretations between at most countable \omega-categorical relational structures have two algebraic counterparts for their polymorphism clones: a semantic one via the standard algebraic operators H, S, P, and a syntactic one via clone homomorphisms (capturing identities). We provide a similar characterization which incorporates all relational constructions relevant for CSPs, that is, homomorphic equivalence and adding singletons to cores in addition to pp-interpretations. For the semantic part we introduce a new construction, called reflection, and for the syntactic part we find an appropriate weakening of clone homomorphisms, called h1 clone homomorphisms (capturing identities of height 1). As a consequence, the complexity of the CSP of an at most countable $\omega$-categorical structure depends only on the identities of height 1 satisfied in its polymorphism clone as well as the the natural uniformity thereon. This allows us in turn to formulate a new elegant dichotomy conjecture for the CSPs of reducts of finitely bounded homogeneous structures. Finally, we reveal a close connection between h1 clone homomorphisms and the notion of compatibility with projections used in the study of the lattice of interpretability types of varieties.Comment: 24 page

Inductive types in the Calculus of Algebraic Constructions

In a previous work, we proved that an important part of the Calculus of Inductive Constructions (CIC), the basis of the Coq proof assistant, can be seen as a Calculus of Algebraic Constructions (CAC), an extension of the Calculus of Constructions with functions and predicates defined by higher-order rewrite rules. In this paper, we prove that almost all CIC can be seen as a CAC, and that it can be further extended with non-strictly positive types and inductive-recursive types together with non-free constructors and pattern-matching on defined symbols.Comment: Journal version of TLCA'0

A Categorical View on Algebraic Lattices in Formal Concept Analysis

Formal concept analysis has grown from a new branch of the mathematical field of lattice theory to a widely recognized tool in Computer Science and elsewhere. In order to fully benefit from this theory, we believe that it can be enriched with notions such as approximation by computation or representability. The latter are commonly studied in denotational semantics and domain theory and captured most prominently by the notion of algebraicity, e.g. of lattices. In this paper, we explore the notion of algebraicity in formal concept analysis from a category-theoretical perspective. To this end, we build on the the notion of approximable concept with a suitable category and show that the latter is equivalent to the category of algebraic lattices. At the same time, the paper provides a relatively comprehensive account of the representation theory of algebraic lattices in the framework of Stone duality, relating well-known structures such as Scott information systems with further formalisms from logic, topology, domains and lattice theory.Comment: 36 page

CoLoR: a Coq library on well-founded rewrite relations and its application to the automated verification of termination certificates

Termination is an important property of programs; notably required for programs formulated in proof assistants. It is a very active subject of research in the Turing-complete formalism of term rewriting systems, where many methods and tools have been developed over the years to address this problem. Ensuring reliability of those tools is therefore an important issue. In this paper we present a library formalizing important results of the theory of well-founded (rewrite) relations in the proof assistant Coq. We also present its application to the automated verification of termination certificates, as produced by termination tools

Category theory : definitions and examples

Category theory was invented as an abstract language for describing certain structures and constructions which repeatedly occur in many branches of mathematics, such as topology, algebra, and logic. In recent years, it has found several applications in computer science, e.g., algebraic specification, type theory, and programming language semantics. In this paper, we collect definitions and examples of the basic concepts in category theory: categories, functors, natural transformations, universal properties, limits, and adjoints