I would like to announce the first release of dblib, a library that is supposed to help work with de Bruijn’s encoding of binding.

The library is fairly reusable, and I have used it so far in two large proofs of type soundness. Reusability is obtained in part via type classes, in part via tactics that happen to “just work” (hopefully). The user is requested to write a certain amount of boilerplate code, which I think remains tolerable.

The README file is here:

http://gallium.inria.fr/~fpottier/dblib/README

and the complete distribution is here:

http://gallium.inria.fr/~fpottier/dblib/dblib.tar.gz

There is no formal documentation, but the library itself is heavily commented, and there are four little demos (one of which is included below) that help get started.

Your feedback is welcome. Enjoy!

Demo

Set Implicit Arguments.
Require Export Coq.Program.Equality.
Require Import DblibTactics.
Require Import DeBruijn.
Require Import Environments.

(* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- *)

(* The syntax of untyped lambda-terms. *)

Inductive term :=
  | TVar: nat -> term
  | TAbs: term -> term
  | TApp: term -> term -> term.

(* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- *)

(* The following definitions allow us to use the [DeBruijn] library. In
   particular, [traverse_term] defines the binding structure of terms. *)

Instance Var_term : Var term := {
  var := TVar (* avoid eta-expansion *)
}.

Fixpoint traverse_term (f : nat -> nat -> term) l t :=
  match t with
  | TVar x =>
      f l x
  | TAbs t =>
      TAbs (traverse_term f (1 + l) t)
  | TApp t1 t2 =>
      TApp (traverse_term f l t1) (traverse_term f l t2)
  end.

Instance Traverse_term : Traverse term term := {
  traverse := traverse_term
}.

Instance TraverseVarInjective_term : @TraverseVarInjective term _ term _.
Proof.
  constructor. prove_traverse_var_injective.
Qed.

Instance TraverseFunctorial_term : @TraverseFunctorial term _ term _.
Proof.
  constructor. prove_traverse_functorial.
Qed.

Instance TraverseRelative_term : @TraverseRelative term term _.
Proof.
  constructor. prove_traverse_relative.
Qed.

Instance TraverseIdentifiesVar_term : @TraverseIdentifiesVar term _ _.
Proof.
  constructor. prove_traverse_identifies_var.
Qed.

Instance TraverseVarIsIdentity_term : @TraverseVarIsIdentity term _ term _.
Proof.
  constructor. prove_traverse_var_is_identity.
Qed.

(* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- *)

(* The following lemmas characterize [lift] and [subst]. In principle, the
   user does not need to explicitly state these lemmas, and that is fortunate.
   Here, we prove these lemmas only in order to illustrate how the tactics
   [simpl_lift] and [simpl_subst] can simplify applications of [lift] and
   [subst]. *)

Lemma lift_TVar:
  forall w k x,
  lift w k (TVar x) = TVar (lift w k x).
Proof.
  intros. simpl_lift_goal. reflexivity.
Qed.

Lemma lift_TApp:
  forall w k t1 t2,
  lift w k (TApp t1 t2) = TApp (lift w k t1) (lift w k t2).
Proof.
  (* [simpl_lift_goal] can also be used as a hint for [eauto].
     This is useful when this equality goal occurs as a leaf
     within a larger automated proof. *)
  eauto with simpl_lift_goal.
Qed.

Lemma lift_TAbs:
  forall w k t,
  lift w k (TAbs t) = TAbs (lift w (1 + k) t).
Proof.
  eauto with simpl_lift_goal.
Qed.

Lemma subst_TVar:
  forall v k x,
  subst v k (TVar x) = subst_idx v k x.
Proof.
  intros. simpl_subst_goal. reflexivity.
Qed.

Lemma subst_TApp:
  forall v k t1 t2,
  subst v k (TApp t1 t2) = TApp (subst v k t1) (subst v k t2).
Proof.
  eauto with simpl_subst_goal.
Qed.

Lemma subst_TAbs:
  forall v k t,
  subst v k (TAbs t) = TAbs (subst (shift 0 v) (1 + k) t).
Proof.
  eauto with simpl_subst_goal.
Qed.

(* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- *)

(* Reduction semantics. *)

Inductive red : term -> term -> Prop :=
  | RedBeta:
      forall t1 t2 t,
      subst t2 0 t1 = t ->
      red (TApp (TAbs t1) t2) t
  | RedContextTAbs:
      forall t1 t2,
      red t1 t2 ->
      red (TAbs t1) (TAbs t2)
  | RedContextTAppLeft:
      forall t1 t2 t,
      red t1 t2 ->
      red (TApp t1 t) (TApp t2 t)
  | RedContextTAppRight:
      forall t1 t2 t,
      red t1 t2 ->
      red (TApp t t1) (TApp t t2).

(* The reduction judgement is compatible with weakening. *)

Lemma red_weakening:
  forall t1 t2,
  red t1 t2 ->
  forall x,
  red (shift x t1) (shift x t2).
Proof.
  induction 1; intros; subst; simpl_lift_goal;
  econstructor; eauto with lift_subst.
Qed.

(* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- *)

(* Working with closedness. *)

(* Again, we prove the following lemmas only in order to illustrate
   the use of the tactic [inversion_closed]. *)

Lemma inversion_closed_TVar:
  forall k x,
  x >= k ->
  closed k (TVar x) ->
  False.
Proof.
  intros. inversion_closed. eauto using closed_var.
Qed.

Lemma inversion_closed_TApp_1:
  forall t1 t2 k,
  closed k (TApp t1 t2) ->
  closed k t1.
Proof.
  intros. inversion_closed. assumption.
Qed.

Lemma inversion_closed_TApp_2:
  forall t1 t2 k,
  closed k (TApp t1 t2) ->
  closed k t2.
Proof.
  intros. inversion_closed. assumption.
Qed.

Lemma inversion_closed_TAbs:
  forall t k,
  closed k (TAbs t) ->
  closed (1 + k) t.
Proof.
  intros. inversion_closed. assumption.
Qed.

(* Reduction preserves closedness. *)

Lemma red_closed:
  forall t1 t2,
  red t1 t2 ->
  forall k,
  closed k t1 ->
  closed k t2.
Proof.
  induction 1; intros; subst; inversion_closed; try construction_closed.
  (* Case RedBeta. *)
  eauto using @subst_preserves_closed with typeclass_instances.
Qed.

(* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- *)

(* Simple types. *)

(* These types do not contain any variables. They have no binding structure. *)

Inductive ty :=
  | TyIota: ty
  | TyArrow: ty -> ty -> ty.

(* The typing judgement of the simply-typed lambda-calculus. *)

Inductive j : env ty -> term -> ty -> Prop :=
  | JVar:
      forall E x T,
      lookup x E = Some T ->
      j E (TVar x) T
  | JAbs:
      forall E t T1 T2,
      j (insert 0 T1 E) t T2 ->
      j E (TAbs t) (TyArrow T1 T2)
  | JApp:
      forall E t1 t2 T1 T2,
      j E t1 (TyArrow T1 T2) ->
      j E t2 T1 ->
      j E (TApp t1 t2) T2.

Hint Constructors j : j.

(* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- *)

(* The typing judgement is compatible with weakening, i.e., inserting a new
   term variable. *)

Lemma weakening:
  forall E t T,
  j E t T ->
  forall x U E',
  insert x U E = E' ->
  j E' (shift x t) T.
Proof.
  induction 1; intros; subst; simpl_lift_goal;
  econstructor; eauto with lookup_insert insert_insert.
Qed.

(* The typing judgement is compatible with substitution, i.e., substituting a
   well-typed term for a term variable. *)

Lemma substitution:
  forall E x t2 T1 T2,
  j (insert x T1 E) t2 T2 ->
  forall t1,
  j E t1 T1 ->
  j E (subst t1 x t2) T2.
Proof.
  do 5 intro; intro h; dependent induction h; intros; simpl_subst_goal;
  (* General rule. *)
  try solve [ econstructor; eauto using weakening with insert_insert ].
  (* Case TVar. *)
  unfold subst_idx. dblib_by_cases; lookup_insert_all; eauto with j.
Qed.

(* The typing judgement is preserved by reduction. Note that this is
   proved for an arbitrary environment [E]: we do not restrict our
   attention to closed terms. *)

Lemma type_preservation:
  forall t1 t2,
  red t1 t2 ->
  forall E T,
  j E t1 T ->
  j E t2 T.
Proof.
  induction 1; intros ? ? h; subst; dependent destruction h; eauto with j.
  (* Case RedBeta. *)
  match goal with h: j _ (TAbs _) _ |- _ =>
    inversion h; clear h; subst
  end.
  eauto using substitution.
Qed.

(* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- *)

(* The following lemmas are not needed here, but could be useful in other
   settings. *)

(* A term that is well-typed under the empty environment is closed. *)

Lemma j_closed:
  forall E t T,
  j E t T ->
  forall k,
  length E <= k ->
  closed k t.
Proof.
  induction 1; intros; construction_closed.
Qed.

(* A term that is well-typed under the empty environment is well-typed
   under every environment. *)

Lemma j_agree:
  forall E1 t T,
  j E1 t T ->
  forall E2 k,
  agree E1 E2 k ->
  length E1 <= k ->
  j E2 t T.
Proof.
  induction 1; intros; eauto with j length agree omega.
Qed.

Lemma j_empty:
  forall E t T,
  j (@empty _) t T ->
  j E t T.
Proof.
  eauto using j_agree with length agree.
Qed.