79 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
79 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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date: 2022-07-12
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title: a few undocumented beluga features
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tags: [computer, beluga, cool languages]
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toc: true
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summary: |
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some undocumented features i found while looking through the source code
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of the proof language beluga.
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...
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several of these are in the [examples], just not in the documentation. but some
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of them i did find while looking through the parser.
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[examples]: https://github.com/Beluga-lang/Beluga/tree/master/examples
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## unicode
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you can call your context variables `Γ` and it works just fine.
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you can also use `→` and `⇒` and `⊢` if they are legible in the font you're
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using.
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## block values in substitutions
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a lot of the time you have a variable typed like
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`\[Γ, b : block (x : term, t : oft x A[..]) ⊢ ty]`,
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but you actually need a
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`\[Γ, x : term, t : oft x A[..] ⊢ ty]`,
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with the block flattened out. or vice versa.
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or you want to substitute the block more conveniently.
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for this purpose, there is actually a block literal syntax `<a; b; c>` usable
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in substitutions:
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```beluga
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let [Γ, b : block (x : term, t : oft x A[..]) ⊢ X] = blah in
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[Γ, x : term, t : oft x A[..] ⊢ X[.., <x; t>]]
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% but equivalent to this, but clearer (imo)
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let [Γ, block (x : term, t : oft x A[..]) ⊢ X[.., b.x, b.t]] = blah in
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[Γ, x : term, t : oft x A[..] ⊢ X]
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```
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## explicit binders before patterns
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sometimes in a case expression, the type of the pattern variables is too hard
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for beluga to work out on its own. in this case you get an error message about
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a stuck unification problem.
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most of the time you can get out of this by writing the types of some variables
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explicitly. the syntax is like a forall-type:
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```beluga
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case [Γ ⊢ #p] of
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| {#p : [Γ ⊢ term]}
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[Γ, y : term ⊢ #p[..]] ⇒ ?body
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```
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## mutual recursion
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of course this exists. but it's not mentioned anywhere in the documentation for
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some reason. the syntax is this:
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```beluga
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LF term : type = …
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and elim : type = …;
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rec eval-term : (Γ : ctx) [Γ ⊢ term] → [Γ ⊢ value] = …
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and rec eval-elim : (Γ : ctx) [Γ ⊢ elim] → [Γ ⊢ value] = …;
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inductive ReduceTerm : (Γ : ctx) [Γ ⊢ term] → ctype = …
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and inductive ReduceElim : (Γ : ctx) [Γ ⊢ elim] → ctype = …;
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```
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two `rec`s! which is because you can mix `rec`/`proof`, or
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`inductive`/`coinductive`/`stratified`, within a block.
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