Observational equality: now for good

Building on the recent extension of dependent type theory with a universe of definitionally proof-irrelevant types, we introduce TTobs, a new type theory based on the setoidal interpretation of dependent type theory. TTobs equips every type with an identity relation that satisfies function extensionality, propositional extensionality, and definitional uniqueness of identity proofs (UIP). Compared to other existing proposals to enrich dependent type theory with these principles, our theory features a notion of reduction that is normalizing and provides an algorithmic canonicity result, which we formally prove in Agda using the logical relation framework of Abel et al. Our paper thoroughly develops the meta-theoretical properties of TTobs, such as the decidability of the conversion and of the type checking, as well as consistency. We also explain how to extend our theory with quotient types, and we introduce a setoidal version of Swan's Id types that turn it into a proper extension of MLTT with inductive equality.

Logical Relations as Types: Proof-Relevant Parametricity for Program Modules

The theory of program modules is of interest to language designers not only for its practical importance to programming, but also because it lies at the nexus of three fundamental concerns in language design: the phase distinction , computational effects , and type abstraction . We contribute a fresh “synthetic” take on program modules that treats modules as the fundamental constructs, in which the usual suspects of prior module calculi (kinds, constructors, dynamic programs) are rendered as derived notions in terms of a modal type-theoretic account of the phase distinction. We simplify the account of type abstraction (embodied in the generativity of module functors) through a lax modality that encapsulates computational effects, placing projectibility of module expressions on a type-theoretic basis. Our main result is a (significant) proof-relevant and phase-sensitive generalization of the Reynolds abstraction theorem for a calculus of program modules, based on a new kind of logical relation called a parametricity structure . Parametricity structures generalize the proof-irrelevant relations of classical parametricity to proof- relevant families, where there may be non-trivial evidence witnessing the relatedness of two programs—simplifying the metatheory of strong sums over the collection of types, for although there can be no “relation classifying relations,” one easily accommodates a “family classifying small families.” Using the insight that logical relations/parametricity is itself a form of phase distinction between the syntactic and the semantic, we contribute a new synthetic approach to phase separated parametricity based on the slogan logical relations as types , by iterating our modal account of the phase distinction. We axiomatize a dependent type theory of parametricity structures using two pairs of complementary modalities (syntactic, semantic) and (static, dynamic), substantiated using the topos theoretic Artin gluing construction. Then, to construct a simulation between two implementations of an abstract type, one simply programs a third implementation whose type component carries the representation invariant.

CROSS-WORLD PREDICATION: TYPE-THEORETICAL AND SET-THEORETICAL FORMALIZATION

В статье описываются некоторые потенциальные проблемы теории кросс-мировой предикации Е. Борисова и предлагаются альтернативные формализации в терминах теории типов с зависимыми типами и теории множеств. Преимущество теоретико-типовой формализации состоит в её простоте, связанной с наличием в теории типов функций в зависимые типы. Преимущество предлагаемой теоретико-множественной формализации состоит в большей близости к традиционным подходам и отсутствии некоторых неинтуитивных следствий, таких как предикация по несуществующим объектам. The paper examines some potential problems of the theory of cross-world predication by E. Borisov and suggests alternative formalizations in terms of type theory with dependent types and set theory. The advantage of the type-theoretical formalization lies in its simplicity based on the presence of functions to dependent types. The advantage of the proposed set-theoretical formalization is a greater closeness to traditional approaches and the lack of some non-intuitive effects such as the predication on non-existing objects.

Cubical methods in homotopy type theory and univalent foundations

Cubical methods have played an important role in the development of Homotopy Type Theory and Univalent Foundations (HoTT/UF) in recent years. The original motivation behind these developments was to give constructive meaning to Voevodsky’s univalence axiom, but they have since then led to a range of new results. Among the achievements of these methods is the design of new type theories and proof assistants with native support for notions from HoTT/UF, syntactic and semantic consistency results for HoTT/UF, as well as a variety of independence results and establishing that the univalence axiom does not increase the proof theoretic strength of type theory. This paper is based on lecture notes that were written for the 2019 Homotopy Type Theory Summer School at Carnegie Mellon University. The goal of these lectures was to give an introduction to cubical methods and provide sufficient background in order to make the current research in this very active area of HoTT/UF more accessible to newcomers. The focus of these notes is hence on both the syntactic and semantic aspects of these methods, in particular on cubical type theory and the various cubical set categories that give meaning to these theories.

Formalization of metatheory of the Lambda Calculus in constructive type theory using the Barendregt variable convention

Abstarct We formalize in Constructive Type Theory the Lambda Calculus in its classical first-order syntax, employing only one sort of names for both bound and free variables, and with α-conversion based upon name swapping. As a fundamental part of the formalization, we introduce principles of induction and recursion on terms which provide a framework for reproducing the use of the Barendregt Variable Convention as in pen-and-paper proofs within the rigorous formal setting of a proof assistant. The principles in question are all formally derivable from the simple principle of structural induction/recursion on concrete terms. We work out applications to some fundamental meta-theoretical results, such as the Church–Rosser Theorem and Weak Normalization for the Simply Typed Lambda Calculus. The whole development has been machine checked using the system Agda.

Elementary fibrations of enriched groupoids

The present paper aims at stressing the importance of the Hofmann–Streicher groupoid model for Martin Löf Type Theory as a link with the first-order equality and its semantics via adjunctions. The groupoid model was introduced by Martin Hofmann in his Ph.D. thesis and later analysed in collaboration with Thomas Streicher. In this paper, after describing an algebraic weak factorisation system $$\mathsf {L, R}$$ on the category $${\cal C}-{\cal Gpd}$$ of $${\cal C}$$ -enriched groupoids, we prove that its fibration of algebras is elementary (in the sense of Lawvere) and use this fact to produce the factorisation of diagonals for $$\mathsf {L, R}$$ needed to interpret identity types.

Constructive sheaf models of type theory

We provide a constructive version of the notion of sheaf models of univalent type theory. We start by relativizing existing constructive models of univalent type theory to presheaves over a base category. Any Grothendieck topology of the base category then gives rise to a family of left-exact modalities, and we recover a model of type theory by localizing the presheaf model with respect to this family of left-exact modalities. We provide then some examples.