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Debugging Agda

{-# OPTIONS --allow-unsolved-metas #-}

module Lang.debugging where

open import Agda.Builtin.Nat

Debugging and tooling are arguably the most vital parts of the development process and a language ecosystem. Tools tend to help developers figure out issues and assist them in the entire process. Agda has a small set of indispensable tools for such purposes. We look at how to use some of them to make our lives easier.

Holes

The agda compiler supports type checking and providing hints while writing code. Unknown types can be represented with a placeholder ? and the compiler can help deduce the type.

data _even : Nat  Set where
  ZERO : zero even
  STEP :  x  x even  suc (suc x) even

proof₁ : suc (suc (suc (suc zero))) even
proof₁ = ?

The agda compiler hints the ? should be 4 even. This placeholder ? is called a hole.

Features

Agda supports various Interaction commands to provide several features via the agda --interaction command. This implements a client-server protocol whereby a client can communicate with the agda compiler to do various tasks on the source files.

Agda supports the following commands:

Global commands

Name Description Internal name
load Load a file and type check it. Cmd_Load
compile compile a file using the various agda backends (GHC, GHCNoMain, LaTeX, QuickLaTeX etc) Cmd_compile
abort abort the current operation, do nothing otherwise Cmd_abort
toggle-display-of-implicit-arguments ToggleImplicitArgs
show-constraints Show constraints or goals Cmd_constraints
solve-constraints Solve all constraints in a file Cmd_solveAll
show-goals Show all goals in a file Cmd_metas
search-about Search about a keyword Cmd_search_about_toplevel

Goal-specific commands

Name Description Internal name
why-in-scope Explain why a keyword is in scope Cmd_why_in_scope
infer-type Infer type Cmd_infer
module-contents List all module contents Cmd_show_module_contents
compute-normal-form Compute the normal form of either selected code or given expression Cmd_compute

Commands working in the context of a specific goal

Name Description Internal name
give Fill a goal Cmd_give
refine Refine. Partial give: makes new holes for missing arguments Cmd_refine_or_intro
auto Automatic proof search, find proofs Cmd_auto
case pattern match on variables (case split) Cmd_make_case
goal-type Goal type Cmd_goal_type
context Context of the goal Cmd_context
goal-type-and-context Type and context of the goal Cmd_goal_type_context
goal-type-and-inferred-type Infer goal type and the context of the goal Cmd_goal_type_context_infer

Text editor support

The interaction commands mentioned above can be tied to text editors and IDEs to provide additional assistance for programmers. Such integrations exist for the following text editors:

There is discontinued support for sublime, eclipse.

Useful Agda-mode commands

C-c C-l   load (type checking)
C-c C-f   forward (jump to next hole)
C-c C-b   backward (jump to previous hole)
C-c C-d   deduce (type of expression)
C-c C-n   normalize (evaluate expression)
Commands inside a hole
C-c C-,   information about the hole
C-c C-d   deduce (type of contents of hole)
C-c C-Space   give (checks whether the term in the hole has the right type and if it has, replaces the hole with the term)
C-c C-c   case split (pattern match on variables)
C-c C-r   refine (one step further)
C-c C-a   auto (try to find a solution)

Agda-mode for emacs can be installed using

agda-mode setup

This entire project can be loaded into emacs like:

```bash
emacs ./contents.lagda.md

followed by loading agda-mode by typing space space agda-mode. Using spacemacs is recommended.


Type Theory - Introduction