Summary: | We discuss the treatment of initial datatypes and final process types in the
wide-spectrum language HasCASL. In particular, we present specifications that
illustrate how datatypes and process types arise as bootstrapped concepts using
HasCASL's type class mechanism, and we describe constructions of types of
finite and infinite trees that establish the conservativity of datatype and
process type declarations adhering to certain reasonable formats. The latter
amounts to modifying known constructions from HOL to avoid unique choice; in
categorical terminology, this means that we establish that quasitoposes with an
internal natural numbers object support initial algebras and final coalgebras
for a range of polynomial functors, thereby partially generalising
corresponding results from topos theory. Moreover, we present similar
constructions in categories of internal complete partial orders in
quasitoposes.
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