Call-by-need evaluation for the lambda-calculus can be seen as merging the best of call-by-name and call-by-value, namely the wise erasing behaviour of the former and the wise duplicating behaviour of the latter. To better understand how duplication and erasure can be combined, we design a degenerated calculus, dubbed call-by-silly, that is symmetric to call-by-need in that it merges the worst of call-by-name and call-by-value, namely silly duplications by-name and silly erasures by-value. We validate the design of the call-by-silly calculus via rewriting properties and multi types. In particular, we mirror the main theorem about call-by-need -- that is, its operational equivalence with call-by-name -- showing that call-by-silly and call-by-value induce the same contextual equivalence. This fact shows the blindness with respect to efficiency of call-by-value contextual equivalence. We also define a call-by-silly strategy and a call-by-silly abstract machine implementing the strategy. Moreover, we measure the number of steps taken by the strategy via tight multi types. Lastly, we prove that the call-by-silly strategy computes evaluation sequences of maximal length in the calculus.

Barendregt’s book on the untyped λ-calculus refines the inconsistent view of β-divergence as representation of the undefined via the key concept of head reduction. In this paper, we put together recent revisitations of some key theorems laid out in Barendregt’s book, and we formalize them in the Abella proof assistant. Our work provides a compact and refreshed presentation of the core of the book. The formalization faithfully mimics pen-and-paper proofs. Two interesting aspects are the manipulation of contexts for the study of contextual equivalence and a formal alternative to the informal trick at work in Takahashi’s proof of the genericity lemma. As a by-product, we obtain an alternative definition of contextual equivalence that does not mention contexts.

Contextual equivalence is the de facto standard notion of program equivalence. A key theorem is that contextual equivalence is an equational theory . Making contextual equivalence more intensional, for example taking into account the time cost of the computation, seems a natural refinement. Such a change, however, does not induce an equational theory, for an apparently essential reason: cost is not invariant under reduction. In the paradigmatic case of the untyped λ -calculus, we introduce interaction equivalence . Inspired by game semantics, we observe the number of interaction steps between terms and contexts but–crucially–ignore their internal steps. We prove that interaction equivalence is an equational theory and characterize it as B , the well-known theory induced by Böhm tree equality. It is the first observational characterization of B obtained without enriching the discriminating power of contexts with extra features such as non-determinism. To prove our results, we develop interaction-based refinements of the Böhm-out technique and of intersection types.

Abstract To better understand Barendregt’s genericity for the untyped call-by-value $$\lambda $$ λ -calculus, we start by first revisiting it in call-by-name, adopting a lighter statement and establishing a connection with contextual equivalence. Then, we use it to give a new, lighter proof of maximality of head contextual equivalence, i.e. that $$\mathcal {H}^*$$ H ∗ is a maximal consistent equational theory. We move on to call-by-value, where we adapt these results and also introduce a new notion dual to light genericity, that we dub co-genericity. Lastly, we give alternative proofs of (co-)genericity based on applicative bisimilarity.

Call-by-need evaluation for the λ-calculus can be seen as merging the best of call-by-name and call-by-value, namely the wise erasing behaviour of the former and the wise duplicating behaviour of the latter. To better understand how duplication and erasure can be combined, we design a degenerated calculus, dubbed call-by-silly, that is symmetric to call-by-need in that it merges the worst of call-by-name and call-by-value, namely silly duplications by-name and silly erasures by-value. We validate the design of the call-by-silly calculus via rewriting properties and multi types. In particular, we mirror the main theorem about call-by-need - that is, its operational equivalence with call-by-name - showing that call-by-silly and call-by-value induce the same contextual equivalence. This fact shows the blindness with respect to efficiency of call-by-value contextual equivalence. We also define a call-by-silly strategy and measure its length via tight multi types. Lastly, we prove that the call-by-silly strategy computes evaluation sequences of maximal length in the calculus.