Categories with families (CwFs) have been used to define the semantics of type theory in type theory. In the setting of Homotopy Type Theory (HoTT), one of the limitations of the traditional notion of CwFs is the requirement to set-truncate types, which excludes models based on univalent categories, such as the standard set model. To address this limitation, we introduce the concept of a Groupoid Category with Families (GCwF). This framework truncates types at the groupoid level and incorporates coherence equations, providing a natural extension of the CwF framework when starting from a 1-category. We demonstrate that the initial GCwF for a type theory with a base family of sets and Pi-types (groupoid-syntax) is set-truncated. Consequently, this allows us to utilize the conventional intrinsic syntax of type theory while enabling interpretations in semantically richer and more natural models. All constructions in this paper were formalised in Cubical Agda.

Containers capture the concept of strictly positive data types in programming. The original development of containers is done in the internal language of locally cartesian closed categories (LCCCs) with disjoint coproducts and W-types, and uniqueness of identity proofs (UIP) is implicitly assumed throughout. Although it is claimed that these developments can also be interpreted in extensional Martin-Löf type theory, this interpretation is not made explicit. In this paper, we present a formalisation of the results that "containers preserve least and greatest fixed points" in Cubical Agda, thereby giving a formulation in intensional type theory. Our proofs do not make use of UIP and thereby generalise the original results from talking about container functors on Set to container functors on the wild category of types. Our main incentive for using Cubical Agda is that its path type restores the equivalence between bisimulation and coinductive equality. Thus, besides developing container theory in a more general setting, we also demonstrate the usefulness of Cubical Agda’s path type to coinductive proofs.

Abstract We give a brief overview of the special issue of MSCS “Advances in Homotopy Type Theory.”

Parametricity is a property of the syntax of type theory implying, e.g., that there is only one function having the type of the polymorphic identity function. Parametricity is usually proven externally, and does not hold internally. Internalising it is difficult because once there is a term witnessing parametricity, it also has to be parametric itself and this results in the appearance of higher dimensional cubes. In previous theories with internal parametricity, either an explicit syntax for higher cubes is present or the theory is extended with a new sort for the interval. In this paper we present a type theory with internal parametricity which is a simple extension of Martin-Löf type theory: there are a few new type formers, term formers and equations. Geometry is not explicit in this syntax, but emergent: the new operations and equations only refer to objects up to dimension 3. We show that this theory is modelled by presheaves over the BCH cube category. Fibrancy conditions are not needed because we use span-based rather than relational parametricity. We define a gluing model for this theory implying that external parametricity and canonicity hold. The theory can be seen as a special case of a new kind of modal type theory, and it is the simplest setting in which the computational properties of higher observational type theory can be demonstrated.

Erasure enriches type theory with a distinction between runtime relevant and irrelevant data, allowing the compilation step to safely erase the latter. Versions of this feature are implemented by many systems, including Agda, Idris, and Rocq. We present a structural version of type theory with erasure, formulated as a second-order generalised algebraic theory (SOGAT). Erasure is encoded as a phase distinction between runtime and erased terms, in the form of a proposition that can appear in a context. This formulation has several advantages: it has models based on categories with families, is compatible with other structural features such as staging, and provides a better guideline for implementation. Through the model theory of SOGATs, we study the semantics of type theory with erasure in families of sets, which generalises to any Grothendieck topos equipped with a tiny proposition. We establish conservativity over Martin-Löf type theory (MLTT) in both phases. For code extraction, we construct a presheaf model that produces untyped lambda calculus programs and prove its correctness through gluing. Our results are formalised in Agda and we provide a toy elaborator implementation.

Abstract The setoid model is a model of intensional type theory that validates certain extensionality principles, like function extensionality and propositional extensionality, the latter being a limited form of univalence that equates logically equivalent propositions. The appeal of this model construction is that it can be constructed in a small, intensional, type theoretic metatheory, therefore giving a method to boostrap extensionality. The setoid model has been recently adapted into a formal system, namely Setoid Type Theory (SeTT). SeTT is an extension of intensional Martin-Löf type theory with constructs that give full access to the extensionality principles that hold in the setoid model. Although already a rich theory as currently defined, SeTT currently lacks a way to internalize the notion of type beyond propositions, hence we want to extend SeTT with a universe of setoids. To this aim, we present the construction of a (non-univalent) universe of setoids within the setoid model, first as an inductive-recursive definition, which is then translated to an inductive-inductive definition and finally to an inductive family. These translations from more powerful definition schemas to simpler ones ensure that our construction can still be defined in a relatively small metatheory which includes a proof-irrelevant identity type with a strong transport rule.

We consider the problem of defining the integers in Homotopy Type Theory (HoTT). We can define the type of integers as signed natural numbers (i.e., using a coproduct), but its induction principle is very inconvenient to work with, since it leads to an explosion of cases. An alternative is to use set-quotients, but here we need to use set-truncation to avoid non-trivial higher equalities. This results in a recursion principle that only allows us to define function into sets (types satisfying UIP). In this paper we consider higher inductive types using either a small universe or bi-invertible maps. These types represent integers without explicit set-truncation that are equivalent to the usual coproduct representation. This is an interesting example since it shows how some coherence problems can be handled in HoTT. We discuss some open questions triggered by this work. The proofs have been formally verified using cubical Agda.

Quotient inductive-inductive types (QIITs) generalise inductive types in two ways: a QIIT can have more than one sort and the later sorts can be indexed over the previous ones. In addition, equality constructors are also allowed. We work in a setting with uniqueness of identity proofs, hence we use the term QIIT instead of higher inductive-inductive type. An example of a QIIT is the well-typed (intrinsic) syntax of type theory quotiented by conversion. In this paper first we specify finitary QIITs using a domain-specific type theory which we call the theory of signatures. The syntax of the theory of signatures is given by a QIIT as well. Then, using this syntax we show that all specified QIITs exist and they have a dependent elimination principle. We also show that algebras of a signature form a category with families (CwF) and use the internal language of this CwF to show that dependent elimination is equivalent to initiality.

Higher inductive types (HITs) in Homotopy Type Theory allow the definition of datatypes which have constructors for equalities over the defined type. HITs generalise quotient types, and allow to define types with non-trivial higher equality types, such as spheres, suspensions and the torus. However, there are also interesting uses of HITs to define types satisfying uniqueness of equality proofs, such as the Cauchy reals, the partiality monad, and the well-typed syntax of type theory. In each of these examples we define several types that depend on each other mutually, i.e. they are inductive-inductive definitions. We call those HITs quotient inductive-inductive types (QIITs). Although there has been recent progress on a general theory of HITs, there is not yet a theoretical foundation for the combination of equality constructors and induction-induction, despite many interesting applications. In the present paper we present a first step towards a semantic definition of QIITs. In particular, we give an initial-algebra semantics. We further derive a section induction principle , stating that every algebra morphism into the algebra in question has a section, which is close to the intuitively expected elimination rules.

Given a type A in homotopy type theory (HoTT), we can define the free ∞-group on A as the loop space of the suspension of A + 1. Equivalently, this free higher group can be defined as a higher inductive type F(A) with constructors unit: F(A), cons: A~F(A)~F(A), and conditions saying that every cons(a) is an auto-equivalence on F(A). Assuming that A is a set (i.e. satisfies the principle of unique identity proofs), we are interested in the question whether F(A) is a set as well, which is very much related to an open problem in the HoTT book [22, Ex. 8.2]. We show an approximation to the question, namely that the fundamental groups of F(A) are trivial, i.e. that ||F(A)||1 is a set.

We develop normalisation by evaluation (NBE) for dependent types based on presheaf categories. Our construction is formulated in the metalanguage of type theory using quotient inductive types. We use a typed presentation hence there are no preterms or realizers in our construction, and every construction respects the conversion relation. NBE for simple types uses a logical relation between the syntax and the presheaf interpretation. In our construction, we merge the presheaf interpretation and the logical relation into a proof-relevant logical predicate. We prove normalisation, completeness, stability and decidability of definitional equality. Most of the constructions were formalized in Agda.

In homotopy type theory (HoTT), all constructions are necessarily stable under homotopy equivalence. This has shortcomings: for example, it is believed that it is impossible to define a type of semi-simplicial types. More generally, it is difficult and often impossible to handle towers of coherences. To address this, we propose a 2-level theory which features both strict and weak equality. This can essentially be represented as two type theories: an "outer" one, containing a strict equality type former, and an "inner" one, which is some version of HoTT. Our type theory is inspired by Voevodsky's suggestion of a homotopy type system (HTS) which currently refers to a range of ideas. A core insight of our proposal is that we do not need any form of equality reflection in order to achieve what HTS was suggested for. Instead, having unique identity proofs in the outer type theory is sufficient, and it also has the meta-theoretical advantage of not breaking decidability of type checking. The inner theory can be an easily justifiable extensions of HoTT, allowing the construction of "infinite structures" which are considered impossible in plain HoTT. Alternatively, we can set the inner theory to be exactly the current standard formulation of HoTT, in which case our system can be thought of as a type-theoretic framework for working with "schematic" definitions in HoTT. As demonstrations, we define semi-simplicial types and formalise constructions of Reedy fibrant diagrams.

We present an internal formalisation of a type heory with dependent types in Type Theory using a special case of higher inductive types from Homotopy Type Theory which we call quotient inductive types (QITs). Our formalisation of type theory avoids referring to preterms or a typability relation but defines directly well typed objects by an inductive definition. We use the elimination principle to define the set-theoretic and logical predicate interpretation. The work has been formalized using the Agda system extended with QITs using postulates.

This special issue comprises selected papers which were presented at the workshop on dependently typed programming (DTP 10) in Edinburgh in July 2010 – affiliated with Federated Logic conferences (FLOC 10). Earlier workshops on dependently typed programming took place in Nottingham in 2008 (DTP 2008) and there also has been a Dagstuhl seminar (04381) on this subject in 2004. After DTP 2010, in 2011 a workshop on dependently typed programming (DTP 11) took place in Nijmegen affiliated with Interactive Theorem Proving 2011 (ITP 11). In September 2011 there also was a DTP workshop in Shonan, Japan.

Abstract We show that the syntactically rich notion of strictly positive families can be reduced to a core type theory with a fixed number of type constructors exploiting the novel notion of indexed containers. As a result, we show indexed containers provide normal forms for strictly positive families in much the same way that containers provide normal forms for strictly positive types. Interestingly, this step from containers to indexed containers is achieved without having to extend the core type theory. Most of the construction presented here has been formalized using the Agda system.

This special issue of Fundamenta

We show that the syntactically rich notion of inductive families can be reduced to a core type theory with a fixed number of type constructors exploiting the novel notion of indexed containers. Indexed containers generalize simple containers, capturing strictly positive families instead of just strictly positive types, without having to extend the core type theory. Other applications of indexed containers include data type-generic programming and reasoning about polymorphic functions. The construction presented here has been formalized using the Agda system.

Abstract Traditionally, decidability of conversion for typed λ-calculi is established by showing that small-step reduction is confluent and strongly normalising. Here we investigate an alternative approach employing a recursively defined normalisation function which we show to be terminating and which reflects and preserves conversion. We apply our approach to the simply typed λ-calculus with explicit substitutions and βη-equality, a system which is not strongly normalising. We also show how the construction can be extended to system T with the usual β-rules for the recursion combinator. Our approach is practical, since it does verify an actual implementation of normalisation which, unlike normalisation by evaluation, is first order. An important feature of our approach is that we are using logical relations to establish equational soundness (identity of normal forms reflects the equational theory), instead of the usual syntactic reasoning using the Church–Rosser property of a term rewriting system.

It can be very difficult to debug impure code, let alone prove its correctness. To address these problems, we provide a functional specification of three central components of Peyton Jones's awkward squad: teletype IO, mutable state, and concurrency. By constructing an internal model of such concepts within our programming language, we can test, debug, and reason about programs that perform IO as if they were pure. In particular, we demonstrate how our specifications may be used in tandem with QuickCheck to automatically test complex pointer algorithms and concurrent programs.

We show that the model of quantum computation based on density matrices and superoperators can be decomposed into a pure classical (functional) part and an effectful part modelling probabilities and measurement. The effectful part can be modelled using a generalisation of monads called arrows. We express the resulting executable model of quantum computing in the Haskell programming language using its special syntax for arrow computations. However, the embedding in Haskell is not perfect: a faithful model of quantum computing requires type capabilities that are not directly expressible in Haskell.

We introduce the language QML, a functional language for quantum computations on finite types. Its design is guided by its categorical semantics: QML programs are interpreted by morphisms in the category FQC of finite quantum computations, which provides a constructive semantics of irreversible quantum computations realisable as quantum gates. QML integrates reversible and irreversible quantum computations in one language, using first order strict linear logic to make weakenings explicit. Strict programs are free from decoherence and hence preserve superpositions and entanglement - which is essential for quantum parallelism.

We introduce a language based upon lambda calculus with products, coproducts and strictly positive inductive types that allows the definition of recursive terms. We present the implementation (foetus) of a syntactical check that ensures that all such terms are structurally recursive, i.e. recursive calls appear only with arguments structurally smaller than the input parameters of terms considered. To ensure the correctness of the termination checker, we show that all structurally recursive terms are normalizing with respect to a given operational semantics. To this end, we define a semantics on all types and a structural ordering on the values in this semantics and prove that all values are accessible with regard to this ordering. Finally, we point out how to do this proof predicatively using set based operators.

Solves the decision problem for the simply typed lambda calculus with a strong binary sum, or, equivalently, the word problem for free Cartesian closed categories with binary co-products. Our method is based on the semantic technique known as "normalization by evaluation", and involves inverting the interpretation of the syntax in a suitable sheaf model and, from this, extracting an appropriate unique normal form. There is no rewriting theory involved and the proof is completely constructive, allowing program extraction from the proof.

We present a new approach to introducing an extensional propositional equality in Intensional Type Theory. Our construction is based on the observation that there is a sound, intensional setoid model in Intensional Type theory with a proof-irrelevant universe of propositions and /spl eta/-rules for /spl Pi/and /spl Sigma/-types. The Type Theory corresponding to this model is decidable, has no irreducible constants and permits large eliminations, which are essential for universes.

We give a semantical proof that every term of a combinator version of system F has a normal form. As the argument is entirely formalisable in an impredicative constructive type theory a reduction-free normalisation algorithm can be extracted from this. The proof is presented as the construction of a model of the calculus inside a category of presheaves. Its definition is given entirely in terms of the internal language.