**************
Miscellaneous
**************

Things we have yet to classify, or are two small to justify their own page.


The Unifier Log
===============

If you're having a hard time debugging why the unifier won't accept
something (often while debugging the compiler itself), try applying the
special operator ``%unifyLog`` to the expression in question. This will
cause the type checker to spit out all sorts of informative messages.


Namespaces and type-directed disambiguation
===========================================

Names can be defined in separate namespaces, and disambiguated by type.
An expression ``with NAME EXPR`` will privilege the namespace ``NAME``
in the expression ``EXPR``. For example:

::

    Idris> with List [[1,2],[3,4],[5,6]]
    [[1, 2], [3, 4], [5, 6]] : List (List Integer)

    Idris> with Vect [[1,2],[3,4],[5,6]]
    [[1, 2], [3, 4], [5, 6]] : Vect 3 (Vect 2 Integer)

    Idris> [[1,2],[3,4],[5,6]]
    Can't disambiguate name: Prelude.List.::, Prelude.Stream.::, Prelude.Vect.::


Alternatives
============

The syntax ``(| option1, option2, option3, ... |)`` type checks each
of the options in turn until one of them works. This is used, for
example, when translating integer literals.

::

    Idris> the Nat (| "foo", Z, (-3) |)
    0 : Nat


This can also be used to give simple automated proofs, for example: trying
some constructors of proofs.

::

    syntax Trivial = (| Oh, Refl |)


Totality checking assertions
============================

All definitions are checked for *coverage* (i.e. all well-typed
applications are handled) and either for *termination* (i.e. all
well-typed applications will eventually produce an answer) or, if
returning codata, for productivity (in practice, all recursive calls are
constructor guarded).

Obviously, termination checking is undecidable. In practice, the
termination checker looks for *size change* - every cycle of recursive
calls must have a decreasing argument, such as a recursive argument of a
strictly positive data type.

There are two built-in functions which can be used to give the totality
checker a hint:

-  ``assert_total x`` asserts that the expression ``x`` is terminating
   and covering, even if the totality checker cannot tell. This can be
   used for example if ``x`` uses a function which does not cover all
   inputs, but the caller knows that the specific input is covered.
-  ``assert_smaller p x`` asserts that the expression ``x`` is
   structurally smaller than the pattern ``p``.

For example, the following function is not checked as total:

::

    qsort : Ord a => List a -> List a
    qsort [] = []
    qsort (x :: xs) = qsort (filter (<= x) xs) ++ (x :: qsort (filter (>= x) xs)))

This is because the checker cannot tell that ``filter`` will always
produce a value smaller than the pattern ``x :: xs`` for the recursive
call to ``qsort``. We can assert that this will always be true as
follows:

::

    total
    qsort : Ord a => List a -> List a
    qsort [] = []
    qsort (x :: xs) = qsort (assert_smaller (x :: xs) (filter (<= x) xs)) ++
                      (x :: qsort (assert_smaller (x :: xs) (filter (>= x) xs))))


Preorder reasoning
==================

This syntax is defined in the module ``Syntax.PreorderReasoning`` in the
``base`` package. It provides a syntax for composing proofs of
reflexive-transitive relations, using overloadable functions called
``step`` and ``qed``. This module also defines ``step`` and ``qed``
functions allowing the syntax to be used for demonstrating equality.
Here is an example:

.. code:: idris

    import Syntax.PreorderReasoning
    multThree : (a, b, c : Nat) -> a * b * c = c * a * b
    multThree a b c =
      (a * b * c) ={ sym (multAssociative a b c) }=
      (a * (b * c)) ={ cong (multCommutative b c) }=
      (a * (c * b)) ={ multAssociative a c b }=
      (a * c * b) ={ cong {f = (* b)} (multCommutative a c) }=
      (c * a * b) QED

Note that the parentheses are required -- only a simple expression can
be on the left of ``={ }=`` or ``QED``. Also, when using preorder
reasoning syntax to prove things about equality, remember that you can
only relate the entire expression, not subexpressions. This might
occasionally require the use of ``cong``.

Finally, although equality is the most obvious application of preorder
reasoning, it can be used for any reflexive-transitive relation.
Something like ``step1 ={ just1 }= step2 ={ just2 }= end QED`` is
translated to ``(step step1 just1 (step step2 just2 (qed end)))``,
selecting the appropriate definitions of ``step`` and ``qed`` through
the normal disambiguation process. The standard library, for example,
also contains an implementation of preorder reasoning on isomorphisms.


Pattern matching on Implicit Arguments
======================================

Pattern matching is only allowed on implicit arguments when they are
referred by name, e.g.

.. code:: idris

    foo : {n : Nat} -> Nat
    foo {n = Z} = Z
    foo {n = S k} = k

or

.. code:: idris

    foo : {n : Nat} -> Nat
    foo {n = n} = n

The latter could be shortened to the following:

.. code:: idris

    foo : {n : Nat} -> Nat
    foo {n} = n

That is, ``{x}`` behaves like ``{x=x}``.


Existence of an implementation
==============================

In order to show that an implementation of some interface is defined for some
type, one could use the ``%implementation`` keyword:

.. code:: idris

    foo : Num Nat
    foo = %implementation

'match' application
===================

``ty <== name`` applies the function ``name`` in such a way that it has
the type ``ty``, by matching ``ty`` against the function's type. This
can be used in proofs, for example:

::

    plus_comm : (n : Nat) -> (m : Nat) -> (n + m = m + n)
    -- Base case
    (Z + m = m + Z) <== plus_comm =
        rewrite ((m + Z = m) <== plusZeroRightNeutral) ==>
                (Z + m = m) in Refl

    -- Step case
    (S k + m = m + S k) <== plus_comm =
        rewrite ((k + m = m + k) <== plus_comm) in
        rewrite ((S (m + k) = m + S k) <== plusSuccRightSucc) in
            Refl

Reflection
==========

Including ``%reflection`` functions and ``quoteGoal x by fn in t``,
which applies ``fn`` to the expected type of the current expression, and
puts the result in ``x`` which is in scope when elaborating ``t``.

Bash Completion
================

Use of ``optparse-applicative`` allows Idris to support Bash
completion.  You can obtain the completion script for Idris using the
following command::

   idris --bash-completion-script `which idris`


To enable completion for the lifetime of your current session, run the
following command::

   source <(idris --bash-completion-script `which idris`)


To enable completion permanently you must either:

* Modify your bash init script with the above command.

* Add the completion script to the appropriate ``bash_completion.d/``
  folder on your machine.