Beluga/Harpoon user’s manual

Beluga is a language for encoding and reasoning about formal systems specified by inference rules, e.g. lambda calculi and type systems. It uses contextual modal logic as its foundation. Object-language binding constructs are encoded using higher-order abstract syntax. That is, functions are used to encode binders. Terms are paired with the contexts in which they are meaningful to form contextual objects, enabling reasoning about open terms. Proofs in Beluga are represented by recursive programs according to the Curry-Howard correspondence.

Harpoon is an interactive proof development REPL built on top of Beluga. Users develop proofs by successively eliminating subgoals using a small, fixed set of tactics. Behind the scenes, the execution of tactics builds a proof script that can be machine-translated into a traditional Beluga program.

The Beluga project is developed at the Complogic group at McGill university, led by Professor Brigitte Pientka. It is implemented in OCaml.

Funding

This research has been funded through: NSERC (Natural Science and Engineering Research Council), FQRNT Recherche d’Equipe, PSR-SIIRI Projets conjoints de recherche et d’innovation and 63e session de la Commission permanente de coopération franco-québécoise by Ministère du Développement économique, de l’Innovation et de l’Exportation au Quebec.

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