Untangling mechanized proofs

A video introduction to Alectryon, from SLE 2020. Unlike pen-and-paper proofs, Coq proof scripts only describe the steps to take, not the states that these steps lead to; as a result, proof scripts are essentially incomprehensible without an interactive user interface to show proof goals. Until now, the standard process to share a self-contained Coq proof was to copy-paste goals into the proof script as comments. Additional prose was likewise embedded in comments. Alectryon is a way to develop and disseminate literate proof scripts. It combines a compiler that interleaves Coq’s output with the original proof script to produce interactive webpages, and a literate programming toolkit that allows authors to translate back and forth between reST and Coq. These tools offer a new way to write, communicate, and preserve proofs, combining the flexibility of procedural proof scripts and the intelligibility of declarative proofs.

Video Presentation