X-Git-Url: http://lambda.jimpryor.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=lambda.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=topics%2F_week5_simply_typed_lambda.mdwn;h=14e21729d3c573984875fcdd4dca223008622f1a;hp=a7917b28f4e0190cc4e326dc425a636e82c22582;hb=c70ea8653fd391ba094c8a64419f3532af2076ce;hpb=a95160473037089ea4deb34eceff948391b0cee4 diff --git a/topics/_week5_simply_typed_lambda.mdwn b/topics/_week5_simply_typed_lambda.mdwn index a7917b28..14e21729 100644 --- a/topics/_week5_simply_typed_lambda.mdwn +++ b/topics/_week5_simply_typed_lambda.mdwn @@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ ways to suit present purposes: Let's see how far we can get typing these terms. `zero` is the Church encoding of zero. Using `N` as the type for Church numbers (i.e., -N == (σ -> σ) -> σ -> σ for some +N ≡ (σ -> σ) -> σ -> σ for some σ, `zero` has type `N`. `snd` takes two numbers, and returns the second, so `snd` has type `N -> N -> N`. Then the type of `pair` is `N -> N -> (type(snd)) -> N`, that is, `N -> N -> (N -> N -> N) -> @@ -230,24 +230,24 @@ namely, pair ≡ (N -> N -> N) -> N. So far so good. The problem is the way in which `pred` puts these parts together. In particular, `pred` applies its argument, the number `n`, to the -`collect` function. Since `n` is a number, its type is `(σ -> -σ) -> σ -> σ`. This means that the type of -`collect` has to match `σ -> σ`. But we concluded above -that the type of `collect` also had to be `pair -> pair`. Putting -these constraints together, it appears that `σ` must be the type -of a pair of numbers. But we already decided that the type of a pair -of numbers is `(N -> N -> N) -> N`. Here's the difficulty: `N` is -shorthand for a type involving `σ`. If `σ` turns out to -depend on `N`, and `N` depends in turn on `σ`, then `σ` is a proper -subtype of itself, which is not allowed in the simply-typed lambda -calculus. - -The way we got here is that the pred function relies on the right-fold -structure of the Church numbers to recursively walk down the spine of -its argument. In order to do that, the argument number had to take -the operation in question as its first argument. And the operation -required in order to build up the predecessor must be the sort of -operation that manipulates numbers, and the infinite regress is +`collect` function. Since `n` is a number, its type is (σ +-> σ) -> σ -> σ. This means that the type of +`collect` has to match σ -> σ. But we +concluded above that the type of `collect` also had to be `pair -> +pair`. Putting these constraints together, it appears that +σ must be the type of a pair of numbers. But we +already decided that the type of a pair of numbers is `(N -> N -> N) +-> N`. Here's the difficulty: `N` is shorthand for a type involving +σ. If σ turns out to depend on +`N`, and `N` depends in turn on σ, then +σ is a proper subtype of itself, which is not +allowed in the simply-typed lambda calculus. + +The way we got here is that the `pred` function relies on the built-in +right-fold structure of the Church numbers to recursively walk down +the spine of its argument. In order to do that, the argument had to +apply to the `collect` operation. And since `collect` had to be the +sort of operation that manipulates numbers, the infinite regress is established. Now, of course, this is only one of myriad possible implementations of @@ -255,3 +255,12 @@ the predecessor function in the lambda calculus. Could one of them possibly be simply-typeable? It turns out that this can't be done. See the works cited by Oleg for details. +Because lists are (in effect) a generalization of the Church numbers, +computing the tail of a list is likewise beyond the reach of the +simply-typed lambda calculus. + +This result is surprising. It illustrates how recursion is built into +the structure of the Church numbers (and lists). Most importantly for +the discussion of the simply-typed lambda calculus, it demonstrates +that even fairly basic recursive computations are beyond the reach of +a simply-typed system.