Posts by Tags

categories

On Lax Monoidal Functors

4 minute read

Published:

What is the difference between

  • a lax monoidal functor
  • a monoid in a Day-monoidal category
  • a morphism of lax-algebras for the free monoid 2-monad, and
  • a codistributive law with the tensor product?

Bisimulations, Equality and Traces

5 minute read

Published:

Strong bisimulation for CCS is the preferred equivalence method in concurrency because it relates less programs than trace equality. However, the reality is that is strong bisimulation and trace equality ought to be regarded as equivalent. This is the essence behind proof assistant’s like (e.g.) Isabelle. So what is going here?

The mini Yoneda lemma for Type Theorists

1 minute read

Published:

I have managed to teach the Yoneda lemma to students who knew very little about category theory, here’s how you do it.

CCCs and the complete models of STLC

2 minute read

Published:

Cartesian closed categories are not regarded as complete models of the Simply Typed \(\lambda\)-calculus in the traditional sense. Let’s see why.

Inconsistencies in Cartesian Closed Categories with fixed-points

5 minute read

Published:

There is a very nice paper out there stating that “Any Cartesian Closed Category (CCC) with an initial object and a fixed-point operator is trivial”. Essentially this means that in languages like (e.g.) Haskell the empty type is not actually empty as it contains the non-terminating computation. Perhaps this is obvious, but here’s the categorical explanation.

foundations

The Axiom of Choice in Type Theory

7 minute read

Published:

The Axiom of Choice (AC) is an axiom that states that the product of a family of non-empty sets is itself non-empty. This is a rather controversial axiom amongst mathematicians but in type theory this axiom is provable within the logic.

monads

On Lax Monoidal Functors

4 minute read

Published:

What is the difference between

  • a lax monoidal functor
  • a monoid in a Day-monoidal category
  • a morphism of lax-algebras for the free monoid 2-monad, and
  • a codistributive law with the tensor product?

monoids

On Lax Monoidal Functors

4 minute read

Published:

What is the difference between

  • a lax monoidal functor
  • a monoid in a Day-monoidal category
  • a morphism of lax-algebras for the free monoid 2-monad, and
  • a codistributive law with the tensor product?

recursion

Inconsistencies in Cartesian Closed Categories with fixed-points

5 minute read

Published:

There is a very nice paper out there stating that “Any Cartesian Closed Category (CCC) with an initial object and a fixed-point operator is trivial”. Essentially this means that in languages like (e.g.) Haskell the empty type is not actually empty as it contains the non-terminating computation. Perhaps this is obvious, but here’s the categorical explanation.

semantics

Bisimulations, Equality and Traces

5 minute read

Published:

Strong bisimulation for CCS is the preferred equivalence method in concurrency because it relates less programs than trace equality. However, the reality is that is strong bisimulation and trace equality ought to be regarded as equivalent. This is the essence behind proof assistant’s like (e.g.) Isabelle. So what is going here?

The mini Yoneda lemma for Type Theorists

1 minute read

Published:

I have managed to teach the Yoneda lemma to students who knew very little about category theory, here’s how you do it.

CCCs and the complete models of STLC

2 minute read

Published:

Cartesian closed categories are not regarded as complete models of the Simply Typed \(\lambda\)-calculus in the traditional sense. Let’s see why.

Inconsistencies in Cartesian Closed Categories with fixed-points

5 minute read

Published:

There is a very nice paper out there stating that “Any Cartesian Closed Category (CCC) with an initial object and a fixed-point operator is trivial”. Essentially this means that in languages like (e.g.) Haskell the empty type is not actually empty as it contains the non-terminating computation. Perhaps this is obvious, but here’s the categorical explanation.

set theory

The Axiom of Choice in Type Theory

7 minute read

Published:

The Axiom of Choice (AC) is an axiom that states that the product of a family of non-empty sets is itself non-empty. This is a rather controversial axiom amongst mathematicians but in type theory this axiom is provable within the logic.

stlc

CCCs and the complete models of STLC

2 minute read

Published:

Cartesian closed categories are not regarded as complete models of the Simply Typed \(\lambda\)-calculus in the traditional sense. Let’s see why.