Congruence Closure Algorithm Research Articles

Modularity and Combination of Associative Commutative Congruence Closure Algorithms enriched with Semantic Properties

Algorithms for computing congruence closure of ground equations over uninterpreted symbols and interpreted symbols satisfying associativity and commutativity (AC) properties are proposed. The algorithms are based on a framework for computing a congruence closure by abstracting nonflat terms by constants as proposed first in Kapur's congruence closure algorithm (RTA97). The framework is general, flexible, and has been extended also to develop congruence closure algorithms for the cases when associative-commutative function symbols can have additional properties including idempotency, nilpotency, identities, cancellativity and group properties as well as their various combinations. Algorithms are modular; their correctness and termination proofs are simple, exploiting modularity. Unlike earlier algorithms, the proposed algorithms neither rely on complex AC compatible well-founded orderings on nonvariable terms nor need to use the associative-commutative unification and extension rules in completion for generating canonical rewrite systems for congruence closures. They are particularly suited for integrating into the Satisfiability modulo Theories (SMT) solvers. A new way to view Groebner basis algorithm for polynomial ideals with integer coefficients as a combination of the congruence closures over the AC symbol * with the identity 1 and the congruence closure over an Abelian group with + is outlined.

Conditional Congruence Closure over Uninterpreted and Interpreted Symbols

A framework for generating congruence closure and conditional congruence closure of ground terms over uninterpreted as well as interpreted symbols satisfying various properties is proposed. It is based on some of the key concepts from Kapur’s congruence closure algorithm (RTA97) for ground equations based on introducing new symbols for all nonconstant subterms appearing in the equation set and using ground completion on uninterpreted constants and purified equalities over interpreted symbols belonging to different theories. In the original signature, the resulting rewrite systems may be nonterminating but they still generate canonical forms. A byproduct of this framework is a constant Horn completion algorithm using which ground canonical Horn rewrite systems can be generated for conditional ground theories.

NP-completeness of small conflict set generation for congruence closure

The efficiency of satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solvers is dependent on the capability of theory reasoners to provide small conflict sets, i.e. small unsatisfiable subsets from unsatisfiable sets of literals. Decision procedures for uninterpreted symbols (i.e. congruence closure algorithms) date back from the very early days of SMT. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, the complexity of generating smallest conflict sets for sets of literals with uninterpreted symbols and equalities had not yet been determined, although the corresponding decision problem was believed to be NP-complete. We provide here an NP-completeness proof, using a simple reduction from SAT.

Programming up to Congruence

This paper presents the design of Zombie, a dependently-typed programming language that uses an adaptation of a congruence closure algorithm for proof and type inference. This algorithm allows the type checker to automatically use equality assumptions from the context when reasoning about equality. Most dependently-typed languages automatically use equalities that follow from beta-reduction during type checking; however, such reasoning is incompatible with congruence closure. In contrast, Zombie does not use automatic beta-reduction because types may contain potentially diverging terms. Therefore Zombie provides a unique opportunity to explore an alternative definition of equivalence in dependently-typed language design. Our work includes the specification of the language via a bidirectional type system, which works "up-to-congruence,'' and an algorithm for elaborating expressions in this language to an explicitly typed core language. We prove that our elaboration algorithm is complete with respect to the source type system, and always produces well typed terms in the core language. This algorithm has been implemented in the Zombie language, which includes general recursion, irrelevant arguments, heterogeneous equality and datatypes.

Ground interpolation for the theory of equality

Theory interpolation has found several successful applications in model checking. We present a novel method for computing interpolants for ground formulas in the theory of equality. The method produces interpolants from colored congruence graphs representing derivations in that theory. These graphs can be produced by conventional congruence closure algorithms in a straightforward manner. By working with graphs, rather than at the level of individual proof steps, we are able to derive interpolants that are pleasingly simple (conjunctions of Horn clauses) and smaller than those generated by other tools. Our interpolation method can be seen as a theory-specific implementation of a cooperative interpolation game between two provers. We present a generic version of the interpolation game, parametrized by the theory T, and define a general method to extract runs of the game from proofs in T and then generate interpolants from these runs.

Structuring the verification of heap-manipulating programs

Most systems based on separation logic consider only restricted forms of implication or non-separating conjunction, as full support for these connectives requires a non-trivial notion of variable context, inherited from the logic of bunched implications (BI). We show that in an expressive type theory such as Coq, one can avoid the intricacies of BI, and support full separation logic very efficiently, using the native structuring primitives of the type theory. Our proposal uses reflection to enable equational reasoning about heaps, and Hoare triples with binary postconditions to further facilitate it. We apply these ideas to Hoare Type Theory, to obtain a new proof technique for verification of higher-order imperative programs that is general, extendable, and supports very short proofs, even without significant use of automation by tactics. We demonstrate the usability of the technique by verifying the fast congruence closure algorithm of Nieuwenhuis and Oliveras, employed in the state-of-the-art Barcelogic SAT solver.

CC(X): Semantic Combination of Congruence Closure with Solvable Theories

We present a generic congruence closure algorithm for deciding ground formulas in the combination of the theory of equality with uninterpreted symbols and an arbitrary built-in solvable theory X. Our algorithm CC(X) is reminiscent of Shostak combination: it maintains a union-find data-structure modulo X from which maximal information about implied equalities can be directly used for congruence closure. CC(X) diverges from Shostak's approach by the use of semantic values for class representatives instead of canonized terms. Using semantic values truly reflects the actual implementation of the decision procedure for X. It also enforces to entirely rebuild the algorithm since global canonization, which is at the heart of Shostak combination, is no longer feasible with semantic values. CC(X) has been implemented in Ocaml and is at the core of Ergo, a new automated theorem prover dedicated to program verification.

Strength Induction in a Haskell Program Verifier

Haskell employs a melange of strict and non-strict evaluation semantics, hence a Haskell verifier should be capable of checking assumptions that program variables may or may not denote well-defined values. The paper introduces a new strategy, called strength induction, that supports automatic checking of definedness assumptions.Strength induction has been implemented in Plover, an automated property-verifier for Haskell programs that has been under development for the past three years as a component of the Programatica project. In Programatica, predicate definitions and property assertions written in P-logic, a programming logic for Haskell, can be embedded in the text of a Haskell program module. Properties refine the type system of Haskell but cannot be verified by type-checking alone; a more powerful logical verifier is required.Plover codes the proof rules of P-logic, and additionally, embeds strategies and decision procedures for their application and discharge. It integrates a reduction system that implements a rewriting semantics for Haskell terms with a congruence-closure algorithm that supports reasoning with equality.

Programmed Strategies for Program Verification

Plover is an automated property-verifier for Haskell programs that has been under development for the past three years as a component of the Programatica project. In Programatica, predicate definitions and property assertions written in P-logic, a programming logic for Haskell, can be embedded in the text of a Haskell program module. Properties refine the type system of Haskell but cannot be verified by type-checking alone; a more powerful logical verifier is needed.Plover codes the proof rules of P-logic, and additionally, embeds strategies and decision procedures for their application and discharge. It integrates a reduction system that implements a rewriting semantics for Haskell terms with a congruence-closure algorithm that supports reasoning with equality. It employs strategies such as structure splitting and case analysis to explore alternative valuations of expressions of type Bool or other finite data types, but these strategies can lead to exponential growth of terms and must be employed cautiously.Plover itself is written in Stratego, which has proven to be a powerful language tool for implementating a verifier. We discuss the design and implementation of some strategies that enable Plover to comprehend Haskell and verify many valid property assertions.

Fast congruence closure and extensions

Congruence closure algorithms for deduction in ground equational theories are ubiquitous in many (semi-)decision procedures used for verification and automated deduction. In many of these applications one needs an incremental algorithm that is moreover capable of recovering, among the thousands of input equations, the small subset that explains the equivalence of a given pair of terms. In this paper we present an algorithm satisfying all these requirements. First, building on ideas from abstract congruence closure algorithms, we present a very simple and clean incremental congruence closure algorithm and show that it runs in the best known time O(n log n). After that, we introduce a proof-producing union-find data structure that is then used for extending our congruence closure algorithm, without increasing the overall O(n log n) time, in order to produce a k-step explanation for a given equation in almost optimal time (quasi-linear in k). Finally, we show that the previous algorithms can be smoothly extended, while still obtaining the same asymptotic time bounds, in order to support the interpreted functions symbols successor and predecessor, which have been shown to be very useful in applications such as microprocessor verification.

A semantic editor

We describe an interactive tool for program development and transformation, a semantic editor. The domain of the semantic editor is Backus's FP programming language. The editor facilitates manipulation of FP program schemas by the meaning-preserving transformations of FP's algebra of programs. The semantic editor aids program development, program optimization and equivalence proofs. It also serves as a tool for investigating the algebra of programs itself. The semantic editor does not depend on the existence of normal forms for FP programs. Instead, a history of all program transformations is retained in the system in the form of a congruence relation. The user is free to step through the congruence classes to see different but equivalent versions of his programs. A program equivalence is applied to a program schema by unifying one side of the equivalence with a sub-program, then labeling it congruent to the other side if the unification is successful. A congruence closure algorithm is applied to find any new congruence relations in expressions containing these program schemas. The program schemas are represented internally by a directed, acyclic graph ( dag ) with identical sub-programs occupying the same sub-graph. The semantic editor uses the Patterson and Wegman unification algorithm and the Nelson and Oppen congruence closure algorithm. Both employ the dag representation. The system is implemented in Scheme, a dialect of Lisp.

Fast Decision Procedures Based on Congruence Closure

The notion of the congruence closure of a relation on a graph is defined and several algorithms for computing it are surveyed. A simple proof is given that the congruence closure algorithm provides a decision procedure for the quantifier-free theory of equality. A decision procedure is then given for the quantifier-free theory of LISP list structure based on the congruence closure algorithm. Both decision procedures determine the satisfiability of a conjunction of literals of length n in average time O ( n log n ) using the fastest known congruence closure algorithm. It is also shown that if the axiomatization of the theory of list structure is changed slightly, the problem of determining the satisfiability of a conjunction of literals becomes NP-complete. The decision procedures have been implemented in the authors' simplifier for the Stanford Pascal Verifier.