arXiv subjects

Alberto Momigliano

Publications and source records attributed to Alberto Momigliano.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Barbed Similarity for the $π$-Calculus in Beluga: A Case Study in Coinductive Reasoning

We formalize strong barbed similarity for the pi-calculus in the Beluga proof assistant, completing a line of work addressing the Concurrent Calculi Formalization Benchmark. By extending previous developments to include replication, we give a coinductive encoding of behavioral equivalence based on barbs and internal actions. Using Beluga's copattern-based coinduction, we obtain concise and compositional proofs, including compatibility properties and a context lemma characterizing barbed precongruence. The case study demonstrates the effectiveness of combining HOAS and coinductive reasoning for mechanizing concurrent calculi.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2024

A Beluga Formalization of the Harmony Lemma in the $π$-Calculus

The "Harmony Lemma", as formulated by Sangiorgi & Walker, establishes the equivalence between the labelled transition semantics and the reduction semantics in the $π$-calculus. Despite being a widely known and accepted result for the standard $π$-calculus, this assertion has never been rigorously proven, formally or informally. Hence, its validity may not be immediately apparent when considering extensions of the $π$-calculus. Contributing to the second challenge of the Concurrent Calculi Formalization Benchmark -- a set of challenges tackling the main issues related to the mechanization of concurrent systems -- we present a formalization of this result for the fragment of the $π$-calculus examined in the Benchmark. Our formalization is implemented in Beluga and draws inspiration from the HOAS formalization of the LTS semantics popularized by Honsell et al. In passing, we introduce a couple of useful encoding techniques for handling telescopes and lexicographic induction.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2024

Property-Based Testing by Elaborating Proof Outlines

Property-based testing (PBT) is a technique for validating code against an executable specification by automatically generating test-data. We present a proof-theoretical reconstruction of this style of testing for relational specifications and employ the Foundational Proof Certificate framework to describe test generators. We do this by encoding certain kinds of ``proof outlines'' as proof certificates that can describe various common generation strategies in the PBT literature, ranging from random to exhaustive, including their combination. We also address the shrinking of counterexamples as a first step toward their explanation. Once generation is accomplished, the testing phase is a standard logic programming search. After illustrating our techniques on simple, first-order (algebraic) data structures, we lift it to data structures containing bindings by using the $λ$-tree syntax approach to encode bindings. The $λ$Prolog programming language can perform both generating and checking of tests using this approach to syntax. We then further extend PBT to specifications in a fragment of linear logic. Under consideration in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP).

cs.LO↗

arXiv2024

More Church-Rosser Proofs in BELUGA

We report on yet another formalization of the Church-Rosser property in lambda-calculi, carried out with the proof environment Beluga. After the well-known proofs of confluence for beta-reduction in the untyped settings, with and without Takahashi's complete developments method, we concentrate on eta-reduction and obtain the result for beta-eta modularly. We further extend the analysis to typed-calculi, in particular System F. Finally, we investigate the idea of pursuing the encoding directly in Beluga's meta-logic, as well as the use of Beluga's logic programming engine to search for counterexamples.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2021

Towards Substructural Property-Based Testing

We propose to extend property-based testing to substructural logics to overcome the current lack of reasoning tools in the field. We take the first step by implementing a property-based testing system for specifications written in the linear logic programming language Lolli. We employ the foundational proof certificates architecture to model various data generation strategies. We validate our approach by encoding a model of a simple imperative programming language and its compilation and by testing its meta-theory via mutation analysis.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2017

$α$Check: A mechanized metatheory model-checker

The problem of mechanically formalizing and proving metatheoretic properties of programming language calculi, type systems, operational semantics, and related formal systems has received considerable attention recently. However, the dual problem of searching for errors in such formalizations has attracted comparatively little attention. In this article, we present $α$Check, a bounded model-checker for metatheoretic properties of formal systems specified using nominal logic. In contrast to the current state of the art for metatheory verification, our approach is fully automatic, does not require expertise in theorem proving on the part of the user, and produces counterexamples in the case that a flaw is detected. We present two implementations of this technique, one based on negation-as-failure and one based on negation elimination, along with experimental results showing that these techniques are fast enough to be used interactively to debug systems as they are developed.

cs.PL↗

arXiv2016

Advances in Property-Based Testing for $α$Prolog

$α$Check is a light-weight property-based testing tool built on top of $α$Prolog, a logic programming language based on nominal logic. $α$Prolog is particularly suited to the validation of the meta-theory of formal systems, for example correctness of compiler translations involving name-binding, alpha-equivalence and capture-avoiding substitution. In this paper we describe an alternative to the negation elimination algorithm underlying $α$Check that substantially improves its effectiveness. To substantiate this claim we compare the checker performances w.r.t. two of its main competitors in the logical framework niche, namely the QuickCheck/Nitpick combination offered by Isabelle/HOL and the random testing facility in PLT-Redex.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2015

An Open Challenge Problem Repository for Systems Supporting Binders

A variety of logical frameworks support the use of higher-order abstract syntax in representing formal systems; however, each system has its own set of benchmarks. Even worse, general proof assistants that provide special libraries for dealing with binders offer a very limited evaluation of such libraries, and the examples given often do not exercise and stress-test key aspects that arise in the presence of binders. In this paper we design an open repository ORBI (Open challenge problem Repository for systems supporting reasoning with BInders). We believe the field of reasoning about languages with binders has matured, and a common set of benchmarks provides an important basis for evaluation and qualitative comparison of different systems and libraries that support binders, and it will help to advance the field.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2015

The Next 700 Challenge Problems for Reasoning with Higher-Order Abstract Syntax Representations: Part 1-A Common Infrastructure for Benchmarks

A variety of logical frameworks support the use of higher-order abstract syntax (HOAS) in representing formal systems. Although these systems seem superficially the same, they differ in a variety of ways; for example, how they handle a context of assumptions and which theorems about a given formal system can be concisely expressed and proved. Our contributions in this paper are three-fold: 1) we develop a common infrastructure for representing benchmarks for systems supporting reasoning with binders, 2) we present several concrete benchmarks, which highlight a variety of different aspects of reasoning within a context of assumptions, and 3) we design an open repository ORBI, (Open challenge problem Repository for systems supporting reasoning with BInders). Our work sets the stage for providing a basis for qualitative comparison of different systems. This allows us to review and survey the state of the art, which we do in great detail for four systems in Part 2 of this paper (Felty et al, 2015). It also allows us to outline future fundamental research questions regarding the design and implementation of meta-reasoning systems.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2010

Cut Elimination for a Logic with Induction and Co-induction

Proof search has been used to specify a wide range of computation systems. In order to build a framework for reasoning about such specifications, we make use of a sequent calculus involving induction and co-induction. These proof principles are based on a proof theoretic (rather than set-theoretic) notion of definition. Definitions are akin to logic programs, where the left and right rules for defined atoms allow one to view theories as "closed" or defining fixed points. The use of definitions and free equality makes it possible to reason intentionally about syntax. We add in a consistent way rules for pre and post fixed points, thus allowing the user to reason inductively and co-inductively about properties of computational system making full use of higher-order abstract syntax. Consistency is guaranteed via cut-elimination, where we give the first, to our knowledge, cut-elimination procedure in the presence of general inductive and co-inductive definitions.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2010

Hybrid: A Definitional Two-Level Approach to Reasoning with Higher-Order Abstract Syntax

Combining higher-order abstract syntax and (co)induction in a logical framework is well known to be problematic. Previous work described the implementation of a tool called Hybrid, within Isabelle HOL, which aims to address many of these difficulties. It allows object logics to be represented using higher-order abstract syntax, and reasoned about using tactical theorem proving and principles of (co)induction. In this paper we describe how to use it in a multi-level reasoning fashion, similar in spirit to other meta-logics such as Twelf. By explicitly referencing provability in a middle layer called a specification logic, we solve the problem of reasoning by (co)induction in the presence of non-stratifiable hypothetical judgments, which allow very elegant and succinct specifications of object logic inference rules.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2009

Induction and Co-induction in Sequent Calculus

Proof search has been used to specify a wide range of computation systems. In order to build a framework for reasoning about such specifications, we make use of a sequent calculus involving induction and co-induction. These proof principles are based on a proof theoretic (rather than set-theoretic) notion of definition. Definitions are akin to (stratified) logic programs, where the left and right rules for defined atoms allow one to view theories as "closed" or defining fixed points. The use of definitions makes it possible to reason intensionally about syntax, in particular enforcing free equality via unification. We add in a consistent way rules for pre and post fixed points, thus allowing the user to reason inductively and co-inductively about properties of computational system making full use of higher-order abstract syntax. Consistency is guaranteed via cut-elimination, where we give the first, to our knowledge, cut-elimination procedure in the presence of general inductive and co-inductive definitions.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2001

Higher-Order Pattern Complement and the Strict Lambda-Calculus

We address the problem of complementing higher-order patterns without repetitions of existential variables. Differently from the first-order case, the complement of a pattern cannot, in general, be described by a pattern, or even by a finite set of patterns. We therefore generalize the simply-typed lambda-calculus to include an internal notion of strict function so that we can directly express that a term must depend on a given variable. We show that, in this more expressive calculus, finite sets of patterns without repeated variables are closed under complement and intersection. Our principal application is the transformational approach to negation in higher-order logic programs.

cs.LO↗