Proof pearl: de Bruijn terms really do work

  • Authors:
  • Michael Norrish;René Vestergaard

  • Affiliations:
  • Canberra Research Lab, Nicta;School of Information Science, JAIST, Ishikawa, Japan

  • Venue:
  • TPHOLs'07 Proceedings of the 20th international conference on Theorem proving in higher order logics
  • Year:
  • 2007

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Abstract

Placing our result in a web of related mechanised results, we give a direct proof that the de Bruijn λ-calculus (à la Huet, Nipkow and Shankar) is isomorphic to an α-quotiented λ-calculus. In order to establish the link, we introduce an "index-carrying" abstraction mechanism over de Bruijn terms, and consider it alongside a simplified substitution mechanism. Relating the new notions to those of the α-quotiented and the proper de Bruijn formalisms draws on techniques from the theory of nominal sets.