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The Münchhausen Method in Type Theory (2023)
Journal Article
Altenkirch, T., Kaposi, A., Šinkarovs, A., & Végh, T. (2023). The Münchhausen Method in Type Theory. LIPIcs, 269, https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.TYPES.2022.10

In one of his long tales, after falling into a swamp, Baron Münchhausen salvaged himself and the horse by lifting them both up by his hair. Inspired by this, the paper presents a technique to justify very dependent types. Such types reference the ter... Read More about The Münchhausen Method in Type Theory.

Combinatory logic and lambda calculus are equal, algebraically (2023)
Journal Article
Altenkirch, T., Kaposi, A., Šinkarovs, A., & Végh, T. (2023). Combinatory logic and lambda calculus are equal, algebraically. LIPIcs, Article 24

It is well-known that extensional lambda calculus is equivalent to extensional combinatory logic. In this paper we describe a formalisation of this fact in Cubical Agda. The distinguishing features of our formalisation are the following: (i) Both lan... Read More about Combinatory logic and lambda calculus are equal, algebraically.

Should Type Theory Replace Set Theory as the Foundation of Mathematics? (2023)
Journal Article
Altenkirch, T. (2023). Should Type Theory Replace Set Theory as the Foundation of Mathematics?. Global Philosophy, 33(1), Article 21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10516-023-09676-0

Mathematicians often consider Zermelo-Fraenkel Set Theory with Choice (ZFC) as the only foundation of Mathematics, and frequently don’t actually want to think much about foundations. We argue here that modern Type Theory, i.e. Homotopy Type Theory (H... Read More about Should Type Theory Replace Set Theory as the Foundation of Mathematics?.

Constructing a universe for the setoid model (2021)
Conference Proceeding
Altenkirch, T., Boulier, S., Kaposi, A., Sattler, C., & Sestini, F. (2021). Constructing a universe for the setoid model. In S. Kiefer, & C. Tasson (Eds.), Foundations of Software Science and Computation Structures : 24th International Conference, FOSSACS 2021, Held as Part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2021, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, March 27 – April 1, 2021, Proceedings (1-21). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71995-1_1

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 pr... Read More about Constructing a universe for the setoid model.

Big Step Normalisation for Type Theory (2020)
Journal Article
Altenkirch, T., & Geniet, C. (2020). Big Step Normalisation for Type Theory. LIPIcs, 2020, Article 4. https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.TYPES.2019.4

Big step normalisation is a normalisation method for typed lambda-calculi which relies on a purely syntactic recursive evaluator. Termination of that evaluator is proven using a predicate called strong computability, similar to the techniques used to... Read More about Big Step Normalisation for Type Theory.

The Integers as a Higher Inductive Type (2020)
Conference Proceeding
Altenkirch, T., & Scoccola, L. (2020). The Integers as a Higher Inductive Type. In LICS '20: Proceedings of the 35th Annual ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (67-73). https://doi.org/10.1145/3373718.3394760

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... Read More about The Integers as a Higher Inductive Type.

Naive Type Theory (2019)
Book Chapter
Altenkirch, T. (2019). Naive Type Theory. In S. Centrone, D. Kant, & D. Sarikaya (Eds.), Reflections on the Foundations of Mathematics: Univalent Foundations, Set Theory and General Thoughts (101-136). Springer

We introduce Type Theory, including Homotopy Type Theory, as an alternative to set theory as a foundation of Mathematics emphasising the intuitive and naive understanding of its concepts.

Setoid Type Theory—A Syntactic Translation (2019)
Conference Proceeding
Altenkirch, T., Boulier, S., Kaposi, A., & Tabereau, N. (2019). Setoid Type Theory—A Syntactic Translation. In Mathematics of Program Construction: 13th International Conference, MPC 2019, Porto, Portugal, October 7–9, 2019, Proceedings (155-196). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33636-3_7

We introduce setoid type theory, an intensional type theory with a proof-irrelevant universe of propositions and an equality type satisfying functional extensionality and propositional extensionality. We justify the rules of setoid type theory by a s... Read More about Setoid Type Theory—A Syntactic Translation.

Constructing quotient inductive-inductive types (2019)
Conference Proceeding
Kaposi, A., Kovac, A., & Altenkirch, T. (2019). Constructing quotient inductive-inductive types. In Proceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages archive Volume 3 Issue POPL, January 2019 (1-24). https://doi.org/10.1145/3290315

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... Read More about Constructing quotient inductive-inductive types.

Pure Functional Epidemics: An Agent-Based Approach (2018)
Conference Proceeding
Thaler, J., Altenkirch, T., & Siebers, P. (2018). Pure Functional Epidemics: An Agent-Based Approach. In IFL'18 Proceedings of 30th Symposium on Implementation and Application of Functional Languages, 5-7 September 2018, Lowell, Mass., USA (1-12). https://doi.org/10.1145/3310232.3310372

Agent-Based Simulation (ABS) is a methodology in which a system is simulated in a bottom-up approach by modelling the micro interactions of its constituting parts, called agents, out of which the global system behaviour emerges. So far mainly object-... Read More about Pure Functional Epidemics: An Agent-Based Approach.

Free Higher Groups in Homotopy Type Theory (2018)
Conference Proceeding
Kraus, N., & Altenkirch, T. (2018). Free Higher Groups in Homotopy Type Theory. In LICS '18: Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (599-608). https://doi.org/10.1145/3209108.3209183

© 2018 ACM. Given a type A in homotopy type theory (HoTT), we can define the free∞-group onA as the loop space of the suspension ofA+1. Equivalently, this free higher group can be defined as a higher inductive type F(A) with constructors unit : F(A),... Read More about Free Higher Groups in Homotopy Type Theory.

Quotient inductive-inductive types (2018)
Book Chapter
Altenkirch, T., Capriotti, P., Dijkstra, G., Kraus, N., & Nordvall Forsberg, F. (2018). Quotient inductive-inductive types. In C. Baier, & U. Dal Lago (Eds.), FoSSaCS 2018: Foundations of Software Science and Computation Structures (293-310). Cham: Springer Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89366-2_16

Higher inductive types (HITs) in Homotopy Type Theory (HoTT) allow the definition of datatypes which have constructors for equalities over the defined type. HITs generalise quotient types and allow to define types which are not sets in the sense of H... Read More about Quotient inductive-inductive types.

Towards a cubical type theory without an interval (2018)
Journal Article
Altenkirch, T., & Kaposi, A. (2018). Towards a cubical type theory without an interval. LIPIcs, 3:1-3:27. https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.TYPES.2015.3

Following the cubical set model of type theory which validates the univalence axiom, cubical type theories have been developed that interpret the identity type using an interval pretype. These theories start from a geometric view of equality. A proof... Read More about Towards a cubical type theory without an interval.

Normalisation by evaluation for type theory, in type theory (2017)
Journal Article
Altenkirch, T., & Kaposi, A. (2017). Normalisation by evaluation for type theory, in type theory. Logical Methods in Computer Science, 13(4), https://doi.org/10.23638/LMCS-13%284%3A1%292017

© Altenkirch and Kaposi. 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 henc... Read More about Normalisation by evaluation for type theory, in type theory.

Notions of anonymous existence in Martin-Löf type theory (2017)
Journal Article
Kraus, N., Escardo, M., Coquand, T., & Altenkirch, T. (in press). Notions of anonymous existence in Martin-Löf type theory. Logical Methods in Computer Science, 13(1),

As the groupoid model of Hofmann and Streicher proves, identity proofs in intensional Martin-L\"of type theory cannot generally be shown to be unique. Inspired by a theorem by Hedberg, we give some simple characterizations of types that do have uniqu... Read More about Notions of anonymous existence in Martin-Löf type theory.

Partiality, Revisited: The Partiality Monad as a Quotient Inductive-Inductive Type (2017)
Conference Proceeding
Altenkirch, T., Danielson, N. A., & Kraus, N. (2017). Partiality, Revisited: The Partiality Monad as a Quotient Inductive-Inductive Type. In Foundations of Software Science and Computation Structures: FoSSaCS 2017 (534-549). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-54458-7_31

Capretta's delay monad can be used to model partial computations, but it has the ``wrong'' notion of built-in equality, strong bisimilarity. An alternative is to quotient the delay monad by the ``right''notion of equality, weak bisimilarity. However,... Read More about Partiality, Revisited: The Partiality Monad as a Quotient Inductive-Inductive Type.

Extending Homotopy Type Theory with Strict Equality (2016)
Conference Proceeding
Altenkirch, T., Capriotti, P., & Kraus, N. (2016). Extending Homotopy Type Theory with Strict Equality. In 25th EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic (21:1-21:17). https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.CSL.2016.21

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 a... Read More about Extending Homotopy Type Theory with Strict Equality.

Type theory in type theory using quotient inductive types (2016)
Conference Proceeding
Altenkirch, T., & Kaposi, A. (2016). Type theory in type theory using quotient inductive types. In POPL '16: Proceedings of the 43rd Annual ACM SIGPLAN-SIGACT Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages (18-29). https://doi.org/10.1145/2837614.2837638

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 r... Read More about Type theory in type theory using quotient inductive types.

Indexed containers (2015)
Journal Article
Altenkirch, T., Ghani, N., Hancock, P., McBride, C., & Morris, P. (2015). Indexed containers. Journal of Functional Programming, 25, 1-41. https://doi.org/10.1017/s095679681500009x

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... Read More about Indexed containers.

Monads need not be endofunctors (2015)
Journal Article
Altenkirch, T., Chapman, J., & Uustalu, T. (2015). Monads need not be endofunctors. Logical Methods in Computer Science, 11(1), 1-40. https://doi.org/10.2168/LMCS-11%281%3A3%292015

We introduce a generalization of monads, called relative monads, allowing for underlying functors between different categories. Examples include finite-dimensional vector spaces, untyped and typed ?-calculus syntax and indexed containers. We show tha... Read More about Monads need not be endofunctors.

Relative monads formalised (2014)
Journal Article
Altenkirch, T., Chapman, J., & Uustalu, T. (2014). Relative monads formalised. Journal of Formalized Reasoning, 7(1), https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1972-5787/4389

Relative monads are a generalisation of ordinary monads where the underlying functor need not be an endofunctor. In this paper, we describe a formalisation of the basic theory of relative monads in the interactive theorem prover and dependently typed... Read More about Relative monads formalised.

Generalizations of Hedberg’s Theorem (2013)
Conference Proceeding
Kraus, N., Escardó, M., Coquand, T., & Altenkirch, T. (2013). Generalizations of Hedberg’s Theorem. In Typed Lambda Calculi and Applications: 11th International Conference, TLCA 2013, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, June (173-188). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38946-7_14

As the groupoid interpretation by Hofmann and Streicher shows, uniqueness of identity proofs (UIP) is not provable. Generalizing a theorem by Hedberg, we give new characterizations of types that satisfy UIP. It turns out to be natural in this context... Read More about Generalizations of Hedberg’s Theorem.