Reflection in Rewriting Logic: Metalogical Foundations and Metaprogramming Applications

by Manuel Clavel

Overview

Reflection, the capacity to represent our ideas and to make them the object of our own thoughts, has for many centuries been recognized as a key mark of human intelligence. The very success and extension of reflective ideas in logic and computer science underscores the need for conceptual foundations.

This book proposes a general theory of reflective logics and reflective declarative programming languages. This theory provides a conceptual foundation for judging the extent to which a computational system is reflective. Manuel Clavel presents a proof of the reflective nature of rewriting logic and provides examples of the potential for reflective programming in a number of novel computer applications. These applications are implemented in Maude, a reflective programming language and environment based on rewriting logic that can define, represent and execute a breadth of logics, languages and models of computation. A general method to easily build theorem-proving tools in Maude is also proposed and illustrated. The book goes on to promote the notion of a "universal theory" that can simulate the deductions of all representable theories within any given logic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781575862378
Publisher:	Center for the Study of Language and Inf
Publication date:	10/28/2000
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. General logics and rewriting logic; 2. Reflection in general logics and in rewriting logic; 3. Reflection and strategies in Maude; 4. Applications of reflective Maude; 5. Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.