Authors
Christian Urban, Andrew M Pitts, Murdoch J Gabbay
Publication date
2004/9/14
Journal
Theoretical Computer Science
Volume
323
Issue
1-3
Pages
473-497
Publisher
Elsevier
Description
We present a generalisation of first-order unification to the practically important case of equations between terms involving binding operations. A substitution of terms for variables solves such an equation if it makes the equated terms α-equivalent, i.e. equal up to renaming bound names. For the applications we have in mind, we must consider the simple, textual form of substitution in which names occurring in terms may be captured within the scope of binders upon substitution. We are able to take a “nominal” approach to binding in which bound entities are explicitly named (rather than using nameless, de~Bruijn-style representations) and yet get a version of this form of substitution that respects α-equivalence and possesses good algorithmic properties. We achieve this by adapting two existing ideas. The first one is terms involving explicit substitutions of names for names, except that here we only use explicit …
Total citations
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Scholar articles
C Urban, AM Pitts, MJ Gabbay - Theoretical Computer Science, 2004