Major Section: EVENTS
Example: (defevaluator evl evl-list ((length x) (member-equal x y)))See meta.
General Form:
(defevaluator ev ev-list
((g1 x1 ... xn_1)
...
(gk x1 ... xn_k))
where ev and ev-list are new function symbols and g1, ..., gk are
old function symbols with the indicated number of formals, i.e.,
each gi has n_i formals.This function provides a convenient way to constrain ev and ev-list
to be mutually-recursive evaluator functions for the symbols g1,
..., gk. Roughly speaking, an evaluator function for a fixed,
finite set of function symbols is a restriction of the universal
evaluator to terms composed of variables, constants, lambda
expressions, and applications of the given functions. However,
evaluator functions are constrained rather than defined, so that the
proof that a given metafunction is correct vis-a-vis a particular
evaluator function can be lifted (by functional instantiation) to a
proof that it is correct for any larger evaluator function.
See meta for a discussion of metafunctions.
Defevaluator executes an encapsulate after generating the
appropriate defun and defthm events. Perhaps the easiest way to
understand what defevaluator does is to execute the keyword command
:trans1 (defevaluator evl evl-list ((length x) (member-equal x y)))and inspect the output. This trick is also useful in the rare case that the event fails because a hint is needed. In that case, the output of
:trans1 can be edited by adding hints, then
submitted directly.Formally, ev is said to be an ``evaluator function for g1,
..., gk, with mutually-recursive counterpart ev-list'' iff
ev and ev-list are constrained functions satisfying just the
constraints discussed below.
Ev and ev-list must satisfy constraints (0)-(4) and (k):
(0) How to ev an arbitrary function application:
(implies (and (consp x)
(syntaxp (not (equal a ''nil)))
(not (equal (car x) 'quote)))
(equal (ev x a)
(ev (cons (car x)
(kwote-lst (ev-list (cdr x) a)))
nil)))
(1) How to ev a variable symbol:
(implies (symbolp x)
(equal (ev x a) (and x (cdr (assoc-equal x a)))))
(2) How to ev a constant:
(implies (and (consp x)
(equal (car x) 'quote))
(equal (ev x a) (cadr x)))
(3) How to ev a lambda application:
(implies (and (consp x)
(consp (car x)))
(equal (ev x a)
(ev (caddar x)
(pairlis$ (cadar x)
(ev-list (cdr x) a)))))
(4) How to ev an argument list:
(implies (consp x-lst)
(equal (ev-list x-lst a)
(cons (ev (car x-lst) a)
(ev-list (cdr x-lst) a))))
(implies (not (consp x-lst))
(equal (ev-list x-lst a)
nil))
(k) For each i from 1 to k, how to ev an application of gi,
where gi is a function symbol of n arguments:
(implies (and (consp x)
(equal (car x) 'gi))
(equal (ev x a)
(gi (ev x1 a)
...
(ev xn a)))),
where xi is the (cad...dr x) expression equivalent to (nth i x).
Defevaluator defines suitable witnesses for ev and ev-list, proves
the theorems about them, and constrains ev and ev-list
appropriately. We expect defevaluator to work without assistance
from you, though the proofs do take some time and generate a lot of
output. The proofs are done in the context of a fixed theory,
namely the value of the constant *defevaluator-form-base-theory*.(Aside: (3) above may seem surprising, since the bindings of a are not
included in the environment that is used to evaluate the lambda body,
(caddar x). However, ACL2 lambda expressions are all closed:
in (lambda (v1 ... vn) body), the only free variables in body are
among the vi. See term.)