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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITP.2023.24

An Extensible User Interface for Lean 4

Authors: Wojciech Nawrocki, Edward W. Ayers, and Gabriel Ebner

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 268, 14th International Conference on Interactive Theorem Proving (ITP 2023)

Abstract

Contemporary proof assistants rely on complex automation and process libraries with millions of lines of code. At these scales, understanding the emergent interactions between components can be a serious challenge. One way of managing complexity, long established in informal practice, is through varying external representations. For instance, algebraic notation facilitates term-based reasoning whereas geometric diagrams invoke spatial intuition. Objects viewed one way become much simpler than when viewed differently. In contrast, modern general-purpose ITP systems usually only support limited, textual representations. Treating this as a problem of human-computer interaction, we aim to demonstrate that presentations - UI elements that store references to the objects they are displaying - are a fruitful way of thinking about ITP interface design. They allow us to make headway on two fronts - introspection of prover internals and support for diagrammatic reasoning. To this end we have built an extensible user interface for the Lean 4 prover with an associated ProofWidgets 4 library of presentation-based UI components. We demonstrate the system with several examples including type information popups, structured traces, contextual suggestions, a display for algebraic reasoning, and visualizations of red-black trees. Our interface is already part of the core Lean distribution.

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Wojciech Nawrocki, Edward W. Ayers, and Gabriel Ebner. An Extensible User Interface for Lean 4. In 14th International Conference on Interactive Theorem Proving (ITP 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 268, pp. 24:1-24:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{nawrocki_et_al:LIPIcs.ITP.2023.24,
  author =	{Nawrocki, Wojciech and Ayers, Edward W. and Ebner, Gabriel},
  title =	{{An Extensible User Interface for Lean 4}},
  booktitle =	{14th International Conference on Interactive Theorem Proving (ITP 2023)},
  pages =	{24:1--24:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-284-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{268},
  editor =	{Naumowicz, Adam and Thiemann, Ren\'{e}},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITP.2023.24},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-183991},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITP.2023.24},
  annote =	{Keywords: user interfaces, human-computer interaction, Lean}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITP.2021.4

A Graphical User Interface Framework for Formal Verification

Authors: Edward W. Ayers, Mateja Jamnik, and W. T. Gowers

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 193, 12th International Conference on Interactive Theorem Proving (ITP 2021)

Abstract

We present the "ProofWidgets" framework for implementing general user interfaces (UIs) within an interactive theorem prover. The framework uses web technology and functional reactive programming, as well as metaprogramming features of advanced interactive theorem proving (ITP) systems to allow users to create arbitrary interactive UIs for representing the goal state. Users of the framework can create GUIs declaratively within the ITP’s metaprogramming language, without having to develop in multiple languages and without coordinated changes across multiple projects, which improves development time for new designs of UI. The ProofWidgets framework also allows UIs to make use of the full context of the theorem prover and the specialised libraries that ITPs offer, such as methods for dealing with expressions and tactics. The framework includes an extensible structured pretty-printing engine that enables advanced interaction with expressions such as interactive term rewriting. We exemplify the framework with an implementation for the https://leanprover-community.github.io. The framework is already in use by hundreds of contributors to the Lean mathematical library.

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Edward W. Ayers, Mateja Jamnik, and W. T. Gowers. A Graphical User Interface Framework for Formal Verification. In 12th International Conference on Interactive Theorem Proving (ITP 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 193, pp. 4:1-4:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)

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@InProceedings{ayers_et_al:LIPIcs.ITP.2021.4,
  author =	{Ayers, Edward W. and Jamnik, Mateja and Gowers, W. T.},
  title =	{{A Graphical User Interface Framework for Formal Verification}},
  booktitle =	{12th International Conference on Interactive Theorem Proving (ITP 2021)},
  pages =	{4:1--4:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-188-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{193},
  editor =	{Cohen, Liron and Kaliszyk, Cezary},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITP.2021.4},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-138996},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITP.2021.4},
  annote =	{Keywords: User Interfaces, ITP}
}

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Documents authored by Ayers, Edward W.

An Extensible User Interface for Lean 4

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A Graphical User Interface Framework for Formal Verification

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