An insertion operator preserving infinite reduction sequences

International audienceA common way to show the termination of the union of two abstract reduction systems, provided both systems terminate, is to prove that they enjoy a specific property (some sort of 'commutation' for instance). This specific property is actually used to show that, for the union not to terminate, one of the systems must itself be non-terminating, which leads to a contradiction. Unfortunately, the property may be impossible to prove because some of the objects that are reduced do not enjoy an adequate form. Hence the purpose of this paper is threefold: - First, it introduces an operator enabling us to insert a reduction step on such an object, and therefore to change its shape, while still preserving the ability to use the property. Of course, some new properties will need to be verified. - Second, as an instance of our technique, the operator is applied to relax a well-known lemma stating the termination of the union of two termination abstract reduction systems. - Finally, this lemma is applied in a peculiar and then in a more general way to show the termination of some lambda calculi with inductive types augmented with specific reductions dealing with: (i) copies of inductive types; (ii) the representation of symmetric groups

Strategic Computation and Deduction

We introduce the notion of abstract strategies for abstract reduction systems. Adequate properties of termination, confluence and normalization under strategy can then be defined. Thanks to this abstract concept, we draw a parallel between strategies for computation and strategies for deduction. We define deduction rules as rewrite rules, a deduction step as a rewriting step and a proof construction step as a narrowing step in an adequate abstract reduction system. Computation, deduction and proof search are thus captured in the uniform foundational concept of abstract reduction system in which abstract strategies have a clear formalisation

On probabilistic term rewriting

open3siThis work is partially supported by the ANR projects 14CE250005 ELICA and 16CE250011 REPAS, the FWF project Y757, the JSPS-INRIA bilateral joint research project “CRECOGI”, the ERC Consolidator Grant DLV-818616 DIAPASoN, and JST ERATO HASUO Metamathematics for Systems Design Project (No. JPMJER1603).We study the termination problem for probabilistic term rewrite systems. We prove that the interpretation method is sound and complete for a strengthening of positive almost sure termination, when abstract reduction systems and term rewrite systems are considered. Two instances of the interpretation method—polynomial and matrix interpretations—are analyzed and shown to capture interesting and nontrivial examples when automated. We capture probabilistic computation in a novel way by means of multidistribution reduction sequences, thus accounting for both the nondeterminism in the choice of the redex and the probabilism intrinsic in firing each rule.openAvanzini M.; Dal Lago U.; Yamada A.Avanzini M.; Dal Lago U.; Yamada A

Decreasing Diagrams with Two Labels Are Complete for Confluence of Countable Systems

Like termination, confluence is a central property of rewrite systems. Unlike for termination, however, there exists no known complexity hierarchy for confluence. In this paper we investigate whether the decreasing diagrams technique can be used to obtain such a hierarchy. The decreasing diagrams technique is one of the strongest and most versatile methods for proving confluence of abstract reduction systems, it is complete for countable systems, and it has many well-known confluence criteria as corollaries. So what makes decreasing diagrams so powerful? In contrast to other confluence techniques, decreasing diagrams employ a labelling of the steps -> with labels from a well-founded order in order to conclude confluence of the underlying unlabelled relation. Hence it is natural to ask how the size of the label set influences the strength of the technique. In particular, what class of abstract reduction systems can be proven confluent using decreasing diagrams restricted to 1 label, 2 labels, 3 labels, and so on? Surprisingly, we find that two labels suffice for proving confluence for every abstract rewrite system having the cofinality property, thus in particular for every confluent, countable system. We also show that this result stands in sharp contrast to the situation for commutation of rewrite relations, where the hierarchy does not collapse. Finally, as a background theme, we discuss the logical issue of first-order definability of the notion of confluence

Decreasing diagrams with two labels are complete for confluence of countable systems

Like termination, confluence is a central property of rewrite systems. Unlike for termination, however, there exists no known complexity hierarchy for confluence. In this paper we investigate whether the decreasing diagrams technique can be used to obtain such a hierarchy. The decreasing diagrams technique is one of the strongest and most versatile methods for proving confluence of abstract reduction systems, it is complete for countable systems, and it has many well-known confluence criteria as corollaries. So what makes decreasing diagrams so powerful? In contrast to other confluence techniques, decreasing diagrams employ a labelling of the steps ? with labels from a well-founded order in order to conclude confluence of the underlying unlabelled relation. Hence it is natural to ask how the size of the label set influences the strength of the technique. In particular, what class of abstract reduction systems can be proven confluent using decreasing diagrams restricted to 1 label, 2 labels, 3 labels, and so on? Surprisingly, we find that two labels su ce for proving confluence for every abstract rewrite system having the cofinality property, thus in particular for every confluent, countable system. We also show that this result stands in sharp contrast to the situation for commutation of rewrite relations, where the hierarchy does not collapse. Finally, as a background theme, we discuss the logical issue of first-order definability of the notion of confluence

Simulating TRSs by minimal TRSs : a simple, efficient, and correct compilation technique

A simple, efficient, and correct compilation technique for left-linear Term Rewriting Systems (TRSs) is presented. TRSs are compiled into Minimal Term Rewriting Systems (MTRSs), a subclass of TRSs, presented in [KW95d]. In MTRSs, the rules have such a simple form that they can be seen as instructions for an easily implementable abstract machine, the Abstract Rewriting Machine (ARM). In the correctness proof, it is shown that the MTRS resulting from compilation of a TRS simulates neither too much (soundness) nor too little (completeness), nor does it introduce unwarranted infinite sequences (termination conservation). The compiler and its correctness proof are largely independent of the reduction strategy

On Probabilistic Term Rewriting

International audienceWe study the termination problem for probabilistic term rewrite systems. We prove that the interpretation method is sound and complete for a strengthening of positive almost sure termination, when abstract reduction systems and term rewrite systems are considered. Two instances of the interpretation method-polynomial and matrix interpretations-are analyzed and shown to capture interesting and non-trivial examples when automated. We capture probabilistic computation in a novel way by means of multidistribution reduction sequences, thus accounting for both the nondeterminism in the choice of the redex and the probabilism intrinsic in firing each rule

The Hydra Battle and Cichon’s Principle

Abstract In rewriting the Hydra battle refers to a term rewrite system H proposed by Dershowitz and Jouannaud. To date, H withstands any attempt to prove its termination automatically. This motivates our interest in term rewrite systems encoding the Hydra battle, as a careful study of such systems may prove useful in the design of automatic termination tools. Moreover it has been an open problem, whether any termination order compatible with H has to have the Howard-Bachmann ordinal as its order type, i.e., the proof theoretic ordinal of the theory of one inductive denition. We answer this question in the negative, by providing a reduction order compatible with H, whose order type is at most 0 , the proof theoretic ordinal of Peano arithmetic

12th International Workshop on Termination (WST 2012) : WST 2012, February 19–23, 2012, Obergurgl, Austria / ed. by Georg Moser

This volume contains the proceedings of the 12th International Workshop on Termination (WST 2012), to be held February 19–23, 2012 in Obergurgl, Austria. The goal of the Workshop on Termination is to be a venue for presentation and discussion of all topics in and around termination. In this way, the workshop tries to bridge the gaps between different communities interested and active in research in and around termination. The 12th International Workshop on Termination in Obergurgl continues the successful workshops held in St. Andrews (1993), La Bresse (1995), Ede (1997), Dagstuhl (1999), Utrecht (2001), Valencia (2003), Aachen (2004), Seattle (2006), Paris (2007), Leipzig (2009), and Edinburgh (2010). The 12th International Workshop on Termination did welcome contributions on all aspects of termination and complexity analysis. Contributions from the imperative, constraint, functional, and logic programming communities, and papers investigating applications of complexity or termination (for example in program transformation or theorem proving) were particularly welcome. We did receive 18 submissions which all were accepted. Each paper was assigned two reviewers. In addition to these 18 contributed talks, WST 2012, hosts three invited talks by Alexander Krauss, Martin Hofmann, and Fausto Spoto

Operational Semantics of Resolution and Productivity in Horn Clause Logic

This paper presents a study of operational and type-theoretic properties of different resolution strategies in Horn clause logic. We distinguish four different kinds of resolution: resolution by unification (SLD-resolution), resolution by term-matching, the recently introduced structural resolution, and partial (or lazy) resolution. We express them all uniformly as abstract reduction systems, which allows us to undertake a thorough comparative analysis of their properties. To match this small-step semantics, we propose to take Howard's System H as a type-theoretic semantic counterpart. Using System H, we interpret Horn formulas as types, and a derivation for a given formula as the proof term inhabiting the type given by the formula. We prove soundness of these abstract reduction systems relative to System H, and we show completeness of SLD-resolution and structural resolution relative to System H. We identify conditions under which structural resolution is operationally equivalent to SLD-resolution. We show correspondence between term-matching resolution for Horn clause programs without existential variables and term rewriting.Comment: Journal Formal Aspect of Computing, 201