EDBT 2026 Demo / reviewers in the wild / expert
Jonathan Sterling
dblp:153/1729
· DBLP profile ↗
17ranked-venue papers
9as first author
15since 2021 · last 2026
0000-0002-0585-5564ORCID · corroborated
Domains — the database's venue-derived domains; a paper can count in several
Theory of computation · 11 · 7 first-author · 10 since 2021Software engineering, systems software and programming languages · 5 · 1 first-author · 4 since 2021Applied, interdisciplinary, general and emerging computing · 1 · 1 first-author · 1 since 2021
| Year | Publication | Venue | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Hofmann-Streicher lifting of fibred categoriesabstractIn 1997, Hofmann and Streicher introduced an explicit construction to lift a Grothendieck universe from the category of sets into the category of set-valued presheaves on a small category. More recently, Awodey presented an elegant functorial analysis of this construction in terms of the categorical nerve, the right adjoint to the functor that takes a presheaf to its category of elements; in particular, the categorical nerve's functorial action on the universal small discrete fibration gives the generic family of the universe's Hofmann-Streicher lifting. Inspired by Awodey's analysis, we define a relative version of Hofmann-Streicher lifting in terms of the right pseudo-adjoint to the 2-functor given by postcomposition with a fibration. Finally, we construct a new 2-bifibration of fibrations in which the opcartesian and cartesian lifts arise from these pseudo-adjunctions. Andrew Slattery, Jonathan Sterling |
Log. Methods Comput. Sci. | 2 |
| 2026 | Reflexive graph lenses in univalent foundationsabstractAbstract Martin-Löf’s identity types provide a generic (albeit opaque) notion of identification or “equality” between any two elements of the same type, embodied in a canonical reflexive graph structure left parenthesis equals Subscript upper A Baseline comma bold r bold e bold f bold l right parenthesis ( = A , r e f l ) $(=_A, \mathbf{refl})$ on any type A . The miracle of Voevodsky’s univalence principle is that it ensures, for essentially any naturally occurring structure in mathematics, that the resultant notion of identification is equivalent to the type of isomorphisms in the category of such structures. Characterisations of this kind are not automatic and must be established one-by-one; to this end, several authors have employed reflexive graphs and displayed reflexive graphs to organise the characterisation of identity types. We contribute reflexive graph lenses , a new family of intermediate abstractions lying between families of reflexive graphs and displayed reflexive graphs that simplifies the characterisation of identity types for complex structures. Every reflexive graph lens gives rise to a (more complicated) displayed reflexive graph, and our experience suggests that many naturally occurring displayed reflexive graphs arise in this way. Evidence for the utility of reflexive graph lenses is given by means of several case studies, including the theory of reflexive graphs itself as well as that of polynomial type operators. Finally, we exhibit an equivalence between the type of reflexive graph fibrations and the type of univalent reflexive graph lenses. Jonathan Sterling |
Math. Struct. Comput. Sci. | 1 |
| 2025 | When is the partial map classifier a Sierpiński cone?abstractWe study the relationship between partial map classifiers, Sierpiński cones, and axioms for synthetic higher categories and domains within univalent foundations. In particular, we show that synthetic ∞-categories are closed under partial map classifiers assuming Phoa’s principle, and we isolate a new reflective subuniverse of types within which the Sierpiński cone (a lax colimit) can be computed as a partial map classifier by strengthening the Segal condition. Leoni Pugh, Jonathan Sterling |
LICS | 2 |
| 2025 | Hofmann-Streicher lifting of fibred categories : Dedicated to the memory of Thomas Streicher (1958-2025)abstractIn 1997, Hofmann and Streicher introduced an explicit construction to lift a Grothendieck universe ${\mathcal{U}}$ from Set into the category of Set-valued presheaves on a ${\mathcal{U}}$-small category B. More recently, Awodey presented an elegant functorial analysis of this construction in terms of the categorical nerve, the right adjoint to the functor that takes a presheaf to its category of elements; in particular, the categorical nerve's functorial action on the universal ${\mathcal{U}}$-small discrete fibration gives the generic family of ${\mathcal{U}}$'s Hofmann-Streicher lifting. Inspired by Awodey's analysis, we define a relative version of Hofmann-Streicher lifting in terms of the right pseudo-adjoint to the 2-functor FibA→ FibBgiven by postcomposition with a fibration $p:A \to B$. Andrew Slattery, Jonathan Sterling |
LICS | 2 |
| 2025 | Controlling unfolding in type theoryabstractAbstract We present a new way to control the unfolding of definitions in dependent type theory. Traditionally, proof assistants require users to fix whether each definition will or will not be unfolded in the remainder of a development; unfolding definitions is often necessary in order to reason about them, but an excess of unfolding can result in brittle proofs and intractably large proof goals. In our system, definitions are by default not unfolded, but users can selectively unfold them in a local manner. We justify our mechanism by means of elaboration to a core theory with extension types – a connective first introduced in the context of homotopy type theory – and by establishing a normalization theorem for our core calculus. We have implemented controlled unfolding in the proof assistant, inspiring an independent implementation in Agda. Daniel Gratzer, Jonathan Sterling, Carlo Angiuli, Thierry Coquand, Lars Birkedal |
Math. Struct. Comput. Sci. | 2 |
| 2024 | Towards Univalent Reference Types: The Impact of Univalence on Denotational SemanticsabstractWe develop a denotational semantics for general reference types in an impredicative version of guarded homotopy type theory, an adaptation of synthetic guarded domain theory to Voevodsky’s univalent foundations. We observe for the first time the profound impact of univalence on the denotational semantics of mutable state. Univalence automatically ensures that all computations are invariant under symmetries of the heap - a bountiful source of program equivalences. In particular, even the most simplistic univalent model enjoys many new equations that do not hold when the same constructions are carried out in the universes of traditional set-level (extensional) type theory. Jonathan Sterling, Daniel Gratzer, Lars Birkedal |
CSL | 1 |
| 2024 | Decalf: A Directed, Effectful Cost-Aware Logical FrameworkabstractWe present decalf , a d irected, e ffectful c ost- a ware l ogical f ramework for studying quantitative aspects of functional programs with effects. Like calf , the language is based on a formal phase distinction between the extension and the intension of a program, its pure behavior as distinct from its cost measured by an effectful step-counting primitive. The type theory ensures that the behavior is unaffected by the cost accounting. Unlike calf , the present language takes account of effects , such as probabilistic choice and mutable state. This extension requires a reformulation of calf ’s approach to cost accounting: rather than rely on a “separable” notion of cost, here a cost bound is simply another program . To make this formal, we equip every type with an intrinsic preorder, relaxing the precise cost accounting intrinsic to a program to a looser but nevertheless informative estimate. For example, the cost bound of a probabilistic program is itself a probabilistic program that specifies the distribution of costs. This approach serves as a streamlined alternative to the standard method of isolating a cost recurrence and readily extends to higher-order, effectful programs. The development proceeds by first introducing the decalf type system, which is based on an intrinsic ordering among terms that restricts in the extensional phase to extensional equality, but in the intensional phase reflects an approximation of the cost of a program of interest. This formulation is then applied to a number of illustrative examples, including pure and effectful sorting algorithms, simple probabilistic programs, and higher-order functions. Finally, we justify decalf via a model in the topos of augmented simplicial sets. Harrison Grodin, Yue Niu 0003, Jonathan Sterling, Robert Harper 0001 |
Proc. ACM Program. Lang. | 3 |
| 2024 | The Essence of Generalized Algebraic Data TypesabstractThis paper considers direct encodings of generalized algebraic data types (GADTs) in a minimal suitable lambda-calculus. To this end, we develop an extension of System F ω with recursive types and internalized type equalities with injective constant type constructors. We show how GADTs and associated pattern-matching constructs can be directly expressed in the calculus, thus showing that it may be treated as a highly idealized modern functional programming language. We prove that the internalized type equalities in conjunction with injectivity rules increase the expressive power of the calculus by establishing a non-macro-expressibility result in F ω , and prove the system type-sound via a syntactic argument. Finally, we build two relational models of our calculus: a simple, unary model that illustrates a novel, two-stage interpretation technique, necessary to account for the equational constraints; and a more sophisticated, binary model that relaxes the construction to allow, for the first time, formal reasoning about data-abstraction in a calculus equipped with GADTs. Filip Sieczkowski, Sergei Stepanenko, Jonathan Sterling, Lars Birkedal |
Proc. ACM Program. Lang. | 3 |
| 2023 | What should a generic object be?abstractAbstract Jacobs has proposed definitions for (weak, strong, split) generic objects for a fibered category; building on his definition of (split) generic objects, Jacobs develops a menagerie of important fibrational structures with applications to categorical logic and computer science, including higher order fibrations, polymorphic fibrations, $\lambda2$ -fibrations, triposes, and others. We observe that a split generic object need not in particular be a generic object under the given definitions, and that the definitions of polymorphic fibrations, triposes, etc. are strict enough to rule out some fundamental examples: for instance, the fibered preorder induced by a partial combinatory algebra in realizability is not a tripos in this sense. We propose a new alignment of terminology that emphasizes the forms of generic object appearing most commonly in nature, i.e. in the study of internal categories, triposes, and the denotational semantics of polymorphism. In addition, we propose a new class of acyclic generic objects inspired by recent developments in higher category theory and the semantics of homotopy type theory, generalizing the realignment property of universes to the setting of an arbitrary fibration. Jonathan Sterling |
Math. Struct. Comput. Sci. | 1 |
| 2022 | Sheaf Semantics of Termination-Insensitive NoninterferenceabstractWe propose a new sheaf semantics for secure information flow over a space of abstract behaviors, based on synthetic domain theory: security classes are open/closed partitions, types are sheaves, and redaction of sensitive information corresponds to restricting a sheaf to a closed subspace. Our security-aware computational model satisfies termination-insensitive noninterference automatically, and therefore constitutes an intrinsic alternative to state of the art extrinsic/relational models of noninterference. Our semantics is the latest application of Sterling and Harper’s recent re-interpretation of phase distinctions and noninterference in programming languages in terms of Artin gluing and topos-theoretic open/closed modalities. Prior applications include parametricity for ML modules, the proof of normalization for cubical type theory by Sterling and Angiuli, and the cost-aware logical framework of Niu et al. In this paper we employ the phase distinction perspective twice: first to reconstruct the syntax and semantics of secure information flow as a lattice of phase distinctions between "higher" and "lower" security, and second to verify the computational adequacy of our sheaf semantics with respect to a version of Abadi et al.’s dependency core calculus to which we have added a construct for declassifying termination channels. Jonathan Sterling, Robert Harper 0001 |
FSCD | 1 |
| 2022 | A Cubical Language for Bishop SetsabstractWe present XTT, a version of Cartesian cubical type theory specialized for Bishop sets \`a la Coquand, in which every type enjoys a definitional version of the uniqueness of identity proofs. Using cubical notions, XTT reconstructs many of the ideas underlying Observational Type Theory, a version of intensional type theory that supports function extensionality. We prove the canonicity property of XTT (that every closed boolean is definitionally equal to a constant) using Artin gluing. Jonathan Sterling, Carlo Angiuli, Daniel Gratzer |
Log. Methods Comput. Sci. | 1 |
| 2022 | A cost-aware logical frameworkabstractWe present calf , a c ost- a ware l ogical f ramework for studying quantitative aspects of functional programs. Taking inspiration from recent work that reconstructs traditional aspects of programming languages in terms of a modal account of phase distinctions , we argue that the cost structure of programs motivates a phase distinction between intension and extension . Armed with this technology, we contribute a synthetic account of cost structure as a computational effect in which cost-aware programs enjoy an internal noninterference property: input/output behavior cannot depend on cost. As a full-spectrum dependent type theory, calf presents a unified language for programming and specification of both cost and behavior that can be integrated smoothly with existing mathematical libraries available in type theoretic proof assistants. We evaluate calf as a general framework for cost analysis by implementing two fundamental techniques for algorithm analysis: the method of recurrence relations and physicist’s method for amortized analysis . We deploy these techniques on a variety of case studies: we prove a tight, closed bound for Euclid’s algorithm, verify the amortized complexity of batched queues, and derive tight, closed bounds for the sequential and parallel complexity of merge sort, all fully mechanized in the Agda proof assistant. Lastly we substantiate the soundness of quantitative reasoning in calf by means of a model construction. Yue Niu 0003, Jonathan Sterling, Harrison Grodin, Robert Harper 0001 |
Proc. ACM Program. Lang. | 2 |
| 2021 | Normalization for Cubical Type TheoryabstractWe prove normalization for (univalent, Cartesian) cubical type theory, closing the last major open problem in the syntactic metatheory of cubical type theory. Our normalization result is reduction-free, in the sense of yielding a bijection between equivalence classes of terms in context and a tractable language of β/η-normal forms. As corollaries we obtain both decidability of judgmental equality and the injectivity of type constructors. Jonathan Sterling, Carlo Angiuli |
LICS | 1 |
| 2021 | Logical Relations as Types: Proof-Relevant Parametricity for Program ModulesabstractThe theory of program modules is of interest to language designers not only for its practical importance to programming, but also because it lies at the nexus of three fundamental concerns in language design: the phase distinction , computational effects , and type abstraction . We contribute a fresh “synthetic” take on program modules that treats modules as the fundamental constructs, in which the usual suspects of prior module calculi (kinds, constructors, dynamic programs) are rendered as derived notions in terms of a modal type-theoretic account of the phase distinction. We simplify the account of type abstraction (embodied in the generativity of module functors) through a lax modality that encapsulates computational effects, placing projectibility of module expressions on a type-theoretic basis. Our main result is a (significant) proof-relevant and phase-sensitive generalization of the Reynolds abstraction theorem for a calculus of program modules, based on a new kind of logical relation called a parametricity structure . Parametricity structures generalize the proof-irrelevant relations of classical parametricity to proof- relevant families, where there may be non-trivial evidence witnessing the relatedness of two programs—simplifying the metatheory of strong sums over the collection of types, for although there can be no “relation classifying relations,” one easily accommodates a “family classifying small families.” Using the insight that logical relations/parametricity is itself a form of phase distinction between the syntactic and the semantic, we contribute a new synthetic approach to phase separated parametricity based on the slogan logical relations as types , by iterating our modal account of the phase distinction. We axiomatize a dependent type theory of parametricity structures using two pairs of complementary modalities (syntactic, semantic) and (static, dynamic), substantiated using the topos theoretic Artin gluing construction. Then, to construct a simulation between two implementations of an abstract type, one simply programs a third implementation whose type component carries the representation invariant. Jonathan Sterling, Robert Harper 0001 |
J. ACM | 1 |
| 2021 | Higher order functions and Brouwer's thesisabstractAbstract Extending Martín Escardó’s effectful forcing technique, we give a new proof of a well-known result: Brouwer’s monotone bar theorem holds for any bar that can be realized by a functional of type (ℕ→ℕ)→ℕ in Gödel’s System T . Effectful forcing is an elementary alternative to standard sheaf-theoretic forcing arguments, using ideas from programming languages, including computational effects, monads, the algebra interpretation of call-by-name λ-calculus, and logical relations. Our argument proceeds by interpreting System T programs as well-founded dialogue trees whose nodes branch on a query to an oracle of type ℕ→ℕ, lifted to higher type along a call-by-name translation. To connect this interpretation to the bar theorem, we then show that Brouwer’s famous “mental constructions” of barhood constitute an invariant form of these dialogue trees in which queries to the oracle are made maximally and in order. Jonathan Sterling |
J. Funct. Program. | 1 |
| 2019 | Implementing a modal dependent type theoryabstractModalities are everywhere in programming and mathematics! Despite this, however, there are still significant technical challenges in formulating a core dependent type theory with modalities. We present a dependent type theoryMLTT🔒supporting the connectives of standard Martin-Löf Type Theory as well as anS4-style necessity operator.MLTT🔒supports a smooth interaction between modal and dependent types and provides a common basis for the use of modalities in programming and in synthetic mathematics. We design and prove the soundness and completeness of a type checking algorithm forMLTT🔒, using a novel extension of normalization by evaluation. We have also implemented our algorithm in a prototype proof assistant forMLTT🔒, demonstrating the ease of applying our techniques. Daniel Gratzer, Jonathan Sterling, Lars Birkedal |
Proc. ACM Program. Lang. | 2 |
| 2018 | Guarded Computational Type TheoryabstractNakano's later modality can be used to specify and define recursive functions which are causal or synchronous; in concert with a notion of clock variable, it is possible to also capture the broader class of productive (co)programs. Until now, it has been difficult to combine these constructs with dependent types in a way that preserves the operational meaning of type theory and admits a hierarchy of universes Ui. Jonathan Sterling, Robert Harper 0001 |
LICS | 1 |