Normalization Without Syntax
Abstract
We present normalization for intuitionistic combinatorial proofs (ICPs) and relate it to the simplytyped lambda-calculus. We prove confluence and strong normalization. Combinatorial proofs, or "proofs without syntax", form a graphical semantics of proof in various logics that is canonical yet complexity-aware: they are a polynomial-sized representation of sequent proofs that factors out exactly the non-duplicating permutations. Our approach to normalization aligns with these characteristics: it is canonical (free of permutations) and generic (readily applied to other logics). Our reduction mechanism is a canonical representation of reduction in sequent calculus with closed cuts (no abstraction is allowed below a cut), and relates to closed reduction in lambda-calculus and supercombinators. While we will use ICPs concretely, the notion of reduction is completely abstract, and can be specialized to give a reduction mechanism for any representation of typed normal forms.
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