Proving the Unique Fixed-Point Principle Correct An Adventure with Category Theory

Say you want to prove something about an infinite data-structure, such as a stream or an infinite tree, but you would rather not subject yourself to coinduction. The unique fixed-point principle is an easyto- use, calculational alternative. The proof technique rests on the fact that certain recursio...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hinze, R, James, D
Formato: Conference item
Publicado: 2011
_version_ 1826271863257432064
author Hinze, R
James, D
author_facet Hinze, R
James, D
author_sort Hinze, R
collection OXFORD
description Say you want to prove something about an infinite data-structure, such as a stream or an infinite tree, but you would rather not subject yourself to coinduction. The unique fixed-point principle is an easyto- use, calculational alternative. The proof technique rests on the fact that certain recursion equations have unique solutions; if two elements of a coinductive type satisfy the same equation of this kind, then they are equal. In this paper we precisely characterize the conditions that guarantee a unique solution. Significantly, we do so not with a syntactic criterion, but with a semantic one that stems from the categorical notion of naturality. Our development is based on distributive laws and bialgebras, and draws heavily on Turi and Plotkin's pioneering work on mathematical operational semantics. Along the way, we break down the design space in two dimensions, leading to a total of nine points. Each gives rise to varying degrees of expressiveness, and we will discuss three in depth. Furthermore, our development is generic in the syntax of equations and in the behaviour they encode-we are not caged in the world of streams. Copyright © 2011 ACM.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T22:03:26Z
format Conference item
id oxford-uuid:4f5ef44e-1c6c-4b2f-a77e-c2d8c019f13a
institution University of Oxford
last_indexed 2024-03-06T22:03:26Z
publishDate 2011
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:4f5ef44e-1c6c-4b2f-a77e-c2d8c019f13a2022-03-26T16:06:40ZProving the Unique Fixed-Point Principle Correct An Adventure with Category TheoryConference itemhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_5794uuid:4f5ef44e-1c6c-4b2f-a77e-c2d8c019f13aSymplectic Elements at Oxford2011Hinze, RJames, DSay you want to prove something about an infinite data-structure, such as a stream or an infinite tree, but you would rather not subject yourself to coinduction. The unique fixed-point principle is an easyto- use, calculational alternative. The proof technique rests on the fact that certain recursion equations have unique solutions; if two elements of a coinductive type satisfy the same equation of this kind, then they are equal. In this paper we precisely characterize the conditions that guarantee a unique solution. Significantly, we do so not with a syntactic criterion, but with a semantic one that stems from the categorical notion of naturality. Our development is based on distributive laws and bialgebras, and draws heavily on Turi and Plotkin's pioneering work on mathematical operational semantics. Along the way, we break down the design space in two dimensions, leading to a total of nine points. Each gives rise to varying degrees of expressiveness, and we will discuss three in depth. Furthermore, our development is generic in the syntax of equations and in the behaviour they encode-we are not caged in the world of streams. Copyright © 2011 ACM.
spellingShingle Hinze, R
James, D
Proving the Unique Fixed-Point Principle Correct An Adventure with Category Theory
title Proving the Unique Fixed-Point Principle Correct An Adventure with Category Theory
title_full Proving the Unique Fixed-Point Principle Correct An Adventure with Category Theory
title_fullStr Proving the Unique Fixed-Point Principle Correct An Adventure with Category Theory
title_full_unstemmed Proving the Unique Fixed-Point Principle Correct An Adventure with Category Theory
title_short Proving the Unique Fixed-Point Principle Correct An Adventure with Category Theory
title_sort proving the unique fixed point principle correct an adventure with category theory
work_keys_str_mv AT hinzer provingtheuniquefixedpointprinciplecorrectanadventurewithcategorytheory
AT jamesd provingtheuniquefixedpointprinciplecorrectanadventurewithcategorytheory