Comment by pron
20 hours ago
> in surfacing computational content, which is the whole point of constructive proof
The point of a constructive proof is that the proof itself is in some way computational [1], not that the algorithm is. When I wrote formal proofs, I used either TLA+ or Isabelle/HOL, neither of which are constructive. It's easy to describe the notion of "constructive computation" in a non-constructive logic without any additional effort (that's because non-constructive logics are a superset of constructive logics; i.e. they strictly admit more theorems).
[1]: Disregarding computational complexity
> When I wrote formal proofs, I used either TLA+ or Isabelle/HOL, neither of which are constructive.
True, but this requires using different formal systems for the algorithm and the proof. Isabelle/HOL being non-constructive means you can't fully express proof-carrying code in that single system, without tacking on something else for the "purely computational" added content.
That's not true. Non-constructive logics are extensions of constructive logics. You can express any algorithm in TLA+, and much more than algorithms.
You are right that when using non constructive logics, it's not guaranteed that the proof is executable as a program, but that's not a downside. Having the proof be a program in some sense is interesting, but it's not particularly useful.
How do you express computational content in non-constructive logic while both making it usable from proofs (e.g. if I have some algorithm that turns A's into B's, I want that to be directly referenceable in a proof - if A's have been posited, I must be able to turn them into B's) and keeping its character as specifically computational? Expressing algorithms in a totally separate way from proofs is arguably not much of a solution.
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