On Semi-Completeness of Term Rewriting Systems

We investigate the question whether semi-completeness, i.e., weak termination plus confluence, of term rewriting systems is preserved under the normalization of right-hand sides. We give a simple counterexample showing that in general this transformation neither preserves weak termination nor (local) confluence. Moreover we present two conditions which are sufficient for the preservation of semi-completeness. In particular, we show that (almost) orthogonal systems enjoy this preservation property

Extending Context-Sensitivity in Term Rewriting

We propose a generalized version of context-sensitivity in term rewriting based on the notion of "forbidden patterns". The basic idea is that a rewrite step should be forbidden if the redex to be contracted has a certain shape and appears in a certain context. This shape and context is expressed through forbidden patterns. In particular we analyze the relationships among this novel approach and the commonly used notion of context-sensitivity in term rewriting, as well as the feasibility of rewriting with forbidden patterns from a computational point of view. The latter feasibility is characterized by demanding that restricting a rewrite relation yields an improved termination behaviour while still being powerful enough to compute meaningful results. Sufficient criteria for both kinds of properties in certain classes of rewrite systems with forbidden patterns are presented

Well-definedness of Streams by Transformation and Termination

Streams are infinite sequences over a given data type. A stream specification is a set of equations intended to define a stream. We propose a transformation from such a stream specification to a term rewriting system (TRS) in such a way that termination of the resulting TRS implies that the stream specification is well-defined, that is, admits a unique solution. As a consequence, proving well-definedness of several interesting stream specifications can be done fully automatically using present powerful tools for proving TRS termination. In order to increase the power of this approach, we investigate transformations that preserve semantics and well-definedness. We give examples for which the above mentioned technique applies for the ransformed specification while it fails for the original one

The Sigma-Semantics: A Comprehensive Semantics for Functional Programs

A comprehensive semantics for functional programs is presented, which generalizes the well-known call-by-value and call-by-name semantics. By permitting a separate choice between call-by value and call-by-name for every argument position of every function and parameterizing the semantics by this choice we abstract from the parameter-passing mechanism. Thus common and distinguishing features of all instances of the sigma-semantics, especially call-by-value and call-by-name semantics, are highlighted. Furthermore, a property can be validated for all instances of the sigma-semantics by a single proof. This is employed for proving the equivalence of the given denotational (fixed-point based) and two operational (reduction based) definitions of the sigma-semantics. We present and apply means for very simple proofs of equivalence with the denotational sigma-semantics for a large class of reduction-based sigma-semantics. Our basis are simple first-order constructor-based functional programs with patterns

The Sigma-Semantics: A Comprehensive Semantics for Functional Programs

A comprehensive semantics for functional programs is presented, which generalizes the well-known call-by-value and call-by-name semantics. By permitting a separate choice between call-by value and call-by-name for every argument position of every function and parameterizing the semantics by this choice we abstract from the parameter-passing mechanism. Thus common and distinguishing features of all instances of the sigma-semantics, especially call-by-value and call-by-name semantics, are highlighted. Furthermore, a property can be validated for all instances of the sigma-semantics by a single proof. This is employed for proving the equivalence of the given denotational (fixed-point based) and two operational (reduction based) definitions of the sigma-semantics. We present and apply means for very simple proofs of equivalence with the denotational sigma-semantics for a large class of reduction-based sigma-semantics. Our basis are simple first-order constructor-based functional programs with patterns