theory Intro

imports Main

begin

chapter {* Introduction *}

text {*

  The purpose of this document is to guide the reader through the

  first steps in Isabelle programming, and to provide recipes for

  solving common problems. 

*}

section {* Intended Audience and Prior Knowledge *}

text {* 

  This cookbook targets an audience who already knows how to use the Isabelle

  system to write theories and proofs, but without using ML.

  You should also be familiar with the \emph{Standard ML} programming

  language, which is  used for Isabelle programming. If you are unfamiliar with any of

  these two subjects, you should first work through the Isabelle/HOL

  tutorial \cite{isa-tutorial} and Paulson's book on Standard ML

  \cite{paulson-ml2}.

*}

section {* Primary Documentation *}

text {*

  \begin{description}

  \item[The Implementation Manual \cite{isa-imp}] describes Isabelle

  from a programmer's perspective, documenting both the underlying

  concepts and the concrete interfaces. 

  \item[The Isabelle Reference Manual \cite{isabelle-ref}] is an older document that used

  to be the main reference, when all reasoning happened on the ML

  level. Many parts of it are outdated now, but some parts, mainly the

  chapters on tactics, are still useful.

  \item[The code] is of course the ultimate reference for how

  things really work. Therefore you should not hesitate to look at the

  way things are actually implemented. More importantly, it is often

  good to look at code that does similar things as you want to do, to

  learn from other people's code.

  \end{description}

  Since Isabelle is not a finished product, these manuals, just like

  the implementation itself, are always under construction. This can

  be dificult and frustrating at times, when interfaces are changing

  frequently. But it is a reality that progress means changing

  things (FIXME: need some short and convincing comment that this

  is a strategy, not a problem that should be solved).

*}

end