Refinement Types: A Tutorial

Abstract

Refinement types can be the vector that brings formal verification into mainstream software development. This happy outcome hinges upon the design and implementation of refinement type systems that can be retrofitted to existing languages, or co-designed with new ones. In this book, the authors catalyze the development of such systems by distilling the ideas developed in the sprawling literature on the topic into a coherent and unified tutorial that explains the key ingredients of modern refinement type systems, by showing how to implement a refinement type checker. Inspired by the nanopass framework for teaching compilation the authors show how to implement refinement types via a progression of languages that incrementally add features to the language or type system. The readily accessible book provides the reader with an insightful introduction into Refinement Types using an innovative tutorial style that enables fast learning. Furthermore, the accompanying software implementation allows readers to work on practical real-world examples.