- - - - - - -

Aim

- -There is already quite good documentation available for users to learn -how to interact with Isabelle and to use it for proving -theorems (see here). -However, the entry barrier for users to program on the ML-level of Isabelle -is still unbearably high. In this project we want to change this state -of affairs by providing a tutorial about ML-coding in Isabelle. -At its centre we describe the -implementation of a simple prototypical Isabelle package (we describe -a simplified version of the inductive package). We hope by -documenting every aspect of this package that in the future you will -be able to modify, extend and adapt this package for your own purposes, -see how developers code in Isabelle and understand better Isabelle's -idiosyncrasies. As a result you will be able to quickly produce code -for your own needs and will be able to participate in keeping Isabelle -alive in the long run. - -

-Specific topics of the tutorial we have not yet covered: - -

First Steps -
- theories, contexts and local theories -
- morphisms -
- name spaces -
-
Parsing -
- context-, argument- and attribute parsers -
- parsing and printing translations -
- methods -
-
Tactical Reasoning -
- declarations -
- structured proofs -
-
Advanced Stuff -
- user-space type-systems -
- typing algorithms -
- external applications -
-

- -Please help us to expand on this list. - -

We need You

- -We need help for accomplishing this tutorial. If you are familiar with the -ML-level of Isabelle, please get in contact with us (see addresses below). If you -are not familiar, but like to know more about the bits and pieces that make -up the Isabelle code, then let us know what you are interested in or what -project you like to implement. Above all we like to help future users and -developers of Isabelle; we do not want to end up with some "artificial documentation" -that is of nobody's help. Also proofreading and feedback would be most -appreciated. - -

People to contact

- -The project is managed by - -

Christian Urban (christian.urban at kcl ac uk) -
Larry Paulson (lp15 at cam ac uk) -
Michael Norrish - (Michael.Norrish at nicta com au) -

- -There is also the following mailing list that is subscribed by all developers -and open for help, suggestions etc. about this project. -

- -isabelle-dev@mailbroy.informatik.tu-muenchen.de -
-

- -

Repository

- -A preliminary -repository -is available and you are very welcome to contribute to it. The current draft of the tutorial is here. - -

Stable Version

- -There is no real stable version of the Programming Tutorial yet. If you need a version -that is guaranteed to work with Isabelle 2011-1, then please get in touch with me -(christian.urban at kcl ac uk). - - -

What early readers said:

- -

- -My path towards HOL was from HOL Light, to HOL4, to Isabelle/HOL and -the Cookbook was essential for the last step (Piotr Trojanek, University of Bristol, 2014) - - -

- -...and the Isabelle/ML Cookbook are valuable resources (Lars Hupel, 2014) - - -

- -GREAT!!! That's exactly what I was looking for! (Thomas Genet, ISTIC/IRISA, 2012) - - -

- -The tutorial really is quite nice. (Jeremy Avigad, CMU, 2011) - - -

- -By the way, thanks for the Isabelle Cookbook, it's really helpful to -start with Isabelle/ML. (Mathieu Giorgino, 2011) - - -

- -Great! This seems to have a lot of the missing pieces I couldn't find -in the tutorial and reference manual. (Kevin Van Horn, 2011) - - -

- -I've been fighting for hours trying to derive some theorems automatically, -until Florian told me I should try using conversions and then I read the Cookbook -section and it solved my problem. The example with abs_conv in particular was -particularly illuminating. Thanks! (Jasmin Blanchette, TU Munich, 2010) - - -

- The cook book seems really helpful, if not even exactly what I need. -(Nils Jähnig, FU Berlin, 2010) - -

-The Programming Tutorial has helped me tremendously to get familiar with -Isabelle, which I used in my bachelor thesis about the type-inference algorithm -in Isabelle. (Dmitriy Traytel, TU Munich, 2010) - -

-I've already pointed a couple of PhD students at the programming tutorial, and -they've already found it to be a great place to start with Isabelle -programming. (Lucas Dixon, University of Edinburgh, 2009) - -

-The Isabelle Programming Tutorial is great! I finally learned how to add -new keywords and how to parse outer syntax! (Amine Chaieb, University of Cambridge) - -

-I felt the programming tutorial was very clear and comprehensible. I'm -toying with actually getting back to Isabelle again. Thanks to -everyone involved in the documentation project. I really think it -is worthwhile. (Tom Ridge, University of Cambridge, 2009) - -

-I learned from the tutorial how to deal with fresh variables and also which function to use -for applying substitutions that are generated by unification. -(Lukas Bulwahn, TU Munich, 2009) - -

- What a great resource! I wish I'd had this when I wrote my first -parser in December 2008. -(Timothy Bourke, UNSW Sydney, 2009) - -