Gradualizing the Calculus of Inductive Constructions
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Acknowledging the ordeal of a fully formal development in a proof assistant such as Coq, we investigate gradual variations on the Calculus of Inductive Construction (CIC) for swifter prototyping with imprecise types and terms. We observe, with a no-go theorem, a crucial tradeoff between graduality and the key properties of normalization and closure of universes under dependent product that CIC enjoys. Beyond this Fire Triangle of Graduality, we explore the gradualization of CIC with three different compromises, each relaxing one edge of the Fire Triangle. We develop a parametrized presentation of Gradual CIC that encompasses all three variations, and develop their metatheory. We first present a bidirectional elaboration of Gradual CIC to a dependently-typed cast calculus, which elucidates the interrelation between typing, conversion, and the gradual guarantees. We use a syntactic model into CIC to inform the design of a safe, confluent reduction, and establish, when applicable, normalization. We also study the stronger notion of graduality as embedding-projection pairs formulated by New and Ahmed, using appropriate semantic model constructions. This work informs and paves the way towards the development of malleable proof assistants and dependently-typed programming languages.
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