The correctness of type-checking implementations for proof assistants based on dependent type theory relies on metatheoretical properties that ensure the decidability of typing, some of which require substantial logical strength. Recent mechanizations of such algorithms have highlighted the importance of separating the algorithmic components of the proof - often intricate but requiring relatively low logical strength - from the logical components, which depend on stronger metatheoretical properties, such as normalization or the injectivity of type constructors. In this work, we revisit the logical relations technique and show how it can be used to derive these metatheoretical properties in a direct and uniform way for a core dependent type theory featuring Π-types, N, ⊥ and a universe U. Our presentation yields a compact and conceptually simplified argument that isolates the logically strong reasoning from the algorithmic core. We argue that this approach scales smoothly to richer type theories, and demonstrate this by extending our construction to Exceptional Type Theory (ExcTT), obtaining the first mechanized canonicity proof for this theory.

Ordered, linear, and other substructural type systems allow us to expose deep properties of programs at the syntactic level of types. In this paper, we develop a family of unary logical relations that allow us to prove consequences of parametricity for a range of substructural type systems. A key idea is to parameterize the relation by an algebra, which we exemplify with a monoid and commutative monoid to interpret ordered and linear type systems, respectively. We prove the fundamental theorem of logical relations and apply it to deduce extensional properties of inhabitants of certain types. Examples include demonstrating that the ordered types for list append and reversal are inhabited by exactly one function, as are types of some tree traversals. Similarly, the linear type of the identity function on lists is inhabited only by permutations of the input. Our most advanced example shows that the ordered type of the list fold function is inhabited only by the fold function.

In impredicative type theory (System F, also known as λ2), it is possible to define inductive data types, such as natural numbers and lists. It is also possible to define coinductive data types such as streams. They work well in the sense that their (co)recursion principles obey the expected computation rules (the β-rules). Unfortunately, they do not yield a (co)induction principle [Herman Geuvers, 2001; Ivar Rummelhoff, 2004], because the necessary uniqueness principles are missing (the η-rules). Awodey, Frey, and Speight [Steve Awodey et al., 2018] used an extension of the Calculus of Constructions [Thierry Coquand and Gérard P. Huet, 1988] (λ C) with Σ-types, identity-types, and functional extensionality to define System F style inductive types with an induction principle, by encoding them as a well-chosen subtype, making them initial algebras. In this paper, we extend their results to coinductive data types, and we detail the example of the stream data type with the desired coinduction principle (also called bisimulation). To do that, we first define quotient types (with the desired η-rules) and we also need a stronger form of the definable existential types. We also show that we can use the original method by Awodey, Frey and Speight for general inductive types by defining W-types with an induction principle. The dual approach for streams can be extended to M-types, the generic notion of coinductive types, and the dual of W-types.

Constructing solutions to recursive domain equations is a well-known, important problem in the study of programs and programming languages. Mathematically speaking, the problem is finding a fixed point (up to isomorphism) of a suitable functor over a suitable category. A particularly useful instance, inspired by the step-indexing technique, is where the functor is over (a subcategory of) the category of presheaves over the ordinal ω and the functors are locally-contractive, also known as guarded functors. This corresponds to step-indexing over natural numbers. However, for certain problems, e.g., when dealing with infinite non-determinism, one needs to employ trans-finite step-indexing, i.e., consider presheaf categories over higher ordinals. Prior work on trans-finite step-indexing either only considers a very narrow class of functors over a particularly restricted subcategory of presheaves over higher ordinals, or treats the problem very generally working with sheaves over an arbitrary complete Heyting algebra with a well-founded basis. In this paper we present a solution to the guarded domain equations problem over all guarded functors over the category of presheaves over ordinal numbers, as well as its mechanization in the Rocq Prover. As the categories of sheaves and presheaves over ordinals are equivalent, our main contribution is simplifying prior work from the setting of the category of sheaves to the setting of the category of presheaves and mechanizing it - presheaves are more amenable to mechanization in a proof assistant.

Adjoint logic is a general approach to combining multiple logics with different structural properties, including linear, affine, strict, and (ordinary) intuitionistic logics, where each proposition has an intrinsic mode of truth. It has been defined in the form of a sequent calculus because the central concept of independence is most clearly understood in this form, and because it permits a proof of cut elimination following standard techniques. In this paper we present a natural deduction formulation of adjoint logic and show how it is related to the sequent calculus. As a consequence, every provable proposition has a verification (sometimes called a long normal form). We also give a computational interpretation of adjoint logic in the form of a functional language and prove properties of computations that derive from the structure of modes, including freedom from garbage (for modes without weakening and contraction), strictness (for modes disallowing weakening), and erasure (based on a preorder between modes). Finally, we present a surprisingly subtle algorithm for type checking.

Motivated by compositional categorical rewriting theory, we introduce a convolution product over presheaves of double categories which generalizes the usual Day tensor product of presheaves of monoidal categories. One interesting aspect of the construction is that this convolution product is in general only oplax associative. For that reason, we identify several classes of double categories for which the convolution product is not just oplax associative, but fully associative. This includes in particular framed bicategories on the one hand, and double categories of compositional rewriting theories on the other. For the latter, we establish a formula which justifies the view that the convolution product categorifies the rule algebra product.

Metatheorems about type theories are often proven by interpreting the syntax into models constructed using categorical gluing. We propose to use only sconing (gluing along a global section functor) instead of general gluing. The sconing is performed internally to a presheaf category, and we recover the original glued model by externalization.

Our method relies on constructions involving two notions of models: first-order models (with explicit contexts) and higher-order models (without explicit contexts). Sconing turns a displayed higher-order model into a displayed first-order model.

Using these, we derive specialized induction principles for the syntax of type theory. The input of such an induction principle is a boilerplate-free description of its motives and methods, not mentioning contexts. The output is a section with computation rules specified in the same internal language. We illustrate our framework by proofs of canonicity and normalization for type theory.

Polynomial functors are categorical structures used in a variety of applications across theoretical computer science; for instance, in database theory, denotational semantics, functional programming, and type theory. A well-known problem is that the bicategory of finitary polynomial functors between categories of indexed sets is not cartesian closed, despite its success and influence on denotational models and linear logic. This paper introduces a formal bridge between the model of finitary polynomial functors and the combinatorial theory of generalised species of structures. Our approach consists in viewing finitary polynomial functors as free analytic functors, which correspond to free generalised species. In order to systematically consider finitary polynomial functors from this combinatorial perspective, we study a model of groupoids with additional logical structure; this is used to constrain the generalised species between them. The result is a new cartesian closed bicategory that embeds finitary polynomial functors.

Guarded type theory extends type theory with a handful of modalities and constants to encode productive recursion. While these theories have seen widespread use, the metatheory of guarded type theories, particularly guarded dependent type theories remains underdeveloped. We show that integrating Löb induction is the key obstruction to unifying guarded recursion and dependence in a well-behaved type theory and prove a no-go theorem sharply bounding such type theories. Based on these results, we introduce GuTT: a stratified guarded type theory. GuTT is properly two type theories, sGuTT and dGuTT. The former contains only propositional rules governing Löb induction but enjoys decidable type-checking while the latter extends the former with definitional equalities. Accordingly, dGuTT does not have decidable type-checking. We prove, however, a novel guarded canonicity theorem for dGuTT, showing that programs in dGuTT can be run. These two type theories work in concert, with users writing programs in sGuTT and running them in dGuTT.

The relationship between categorical gluing and proofs using the logical relation technique is folklore. In this paper we work out this relationship for Martin-Löf type theory and show that parametricity and canonicity arise as special cases of gluing. The input of gluing is two models of type theory and a pseudomorphism between them and the output is a displayed model over the first model. A pseudomorphism preserves the categorical structure strictly, the empty context and context extension up to isomorphism, and there are no conditions on preservation of type formers. We look at three examples of pseudomorphisms: the identity on the syntax, the interpretation into the set model and the global section functor. Gluing along these result in syntactic parametricity, semantic parametricity and canonicity, respectively.

We contribute XTT, a cubical reconstruction of Observational Type Theory [Altenkirch et al., 2007] which extends Martin-Löf’s intensional type theory with a dependent equality type that enjoys function extensionality and a judgmental version of the unicity of identity proofs principle (UIP): any two elements of the same equality type are judgmentally equal. Moreover, we conjecture that the typing relation can be decided in a practical way. In this paper, we establish an algebraic canonicity theorem using a novel extension of the logical families or categorical gluing argument inspired by Coquand and Shulman [Coquand, 2018; Shulman, 2015]: every closed element of boolean type is derivably equal to either true or false.

We present gradual type theory, a logic and type theory for call-by-name gradual typing. We define the central constructions of gradual typing (the dynamic type, type casts and type error) in a novel way, by universal properties relative to new judgments for gradual type and term dynamism. These dynamism judgements build on prior work in blame calculi and on the “gradual guarantee” theorem of gradual typing. Combined with the ordinary extensionality (eta) principles that type theory provides, we show that most of the standard operational behavior of casts is uniquely determined by the gradual guarantee. This provides a semantic justification for the definitions of casts, and shows that non-standard definitions of casts must violate these principles. Our type theory is the internal language of a certain class of preorder categories called equipments. We give a general construction of an equipment interpreting gradual type theory from a 2-category representing non-gradual types and programs, which is a semantic analogue of the interpretation of gradual typing using contracts, and use it to build some concrete domain-theoretic models of gradual typing.

In order to avoid well-known paradoxes associated with self-referential definitions, higher-order dependent type theories stratify the theory using a countably infinite hierarchy of universes (also known as sorts), ${\text{Type}}_0:{\text{Type}}_1:\dots$. Such type systems are called cumulative if for any type A we have that $𝐴:{\text{Type}}_{𝑖}$ implies $𝐴:{\text{Type}}_{𝑖+1}$. The Predicative Calculus of Inductive Constructions (pCIC) which forms the basis of the Coq proof assistant, is one such system. In this paper we present the Predicative Calculus of Cumulative Inductive Constructions (pCuIC) which extends the cumulativity relation to inductive types. We discuss cumulative inductive types as present in Coq 8.7 and their application to formalization and definitional translations.

We present Continuation Passing Style (CPS) translations for Plotkin and Pretnar’s effect handlers with Hillerström and Lindley’s row-typed fine-grain call-by-value calculus of effect handlers as the source language. CPS translations of handlers are interesting theoretically, to explain the semantics of handlers, and also offer a practical implementation technique that does not require special support in the target language’s runtime.

We begin with a first-order CPS translation into untyped lambda calculus which manages a stack of continuations and handlers as a curried sequence of arguments. We then refine the initial CPS translation first by uncurrying it to yield a properly tail-recursive translation and second by making it higher-order in order to contract administrative redexes at translation time. We prove that the higher-order CPS translation simulates effect handler reduction. We have implemented the higher-order CPS translation as a JavaScript backend for the Links programming language.

We report on our experience implementing category theory in Coq 8.5. Our work formalizes most of basic category theory, including concepts not covered by existing formalizations, in a library that is fit to be used as a general-purpose category-theoretical foundation.

Our development particularly takes advantage of two features new to Coq 8.5: primitive projections for records and universe polymorphism. Primitive projections allow for well-behaved dualities while universe polymorphism provides a relative notion of largeness and smallness. The latter is one of the main contributions of this paper. It pushes the limits of the new universe polymorphism and constraint inference algorithm of Coq 8.5.

In this paper we present in detail smallness and largeness in categories and the foundation they are built on top of. We furthermore explain how we have used the universe polymorphism of Coq 8.5 to represent smallness and largeness arguments by simply ignoring them and entrusting them to the universe inference algorithm of Coq 8.5. We also briefly discuss our experience throughout this implementation, discuss concepts formalized in this development and give a comparison with a few other developments of similar extent.