NEWS

tuned NEWS; CONTRIBUTORS

Isabelle NEWS -- history user-relevant changes
==============================================

New in this Isabelle version
----------------------------

*** General ***

* Simplified main Isabelle executables, with less surprises on
case-insensitive file-systems (such as Mac OS).

  - The main Isabelle tool wrapper is now called "isabelle" instead of
    "isatool."

  - The former "isabelle" alias for "isabelle-process" has been
    removed (should rarely occur to regular users).

  - The former "isabelle-interface" and its alias "Isabelle" have been
    removed (interfaces are now regular Isabelle tools).

Within scripts and make files, the Isabelle environment variables
ISABELLE_TOOL and ISABELLE_PROCESS replace old ISATOOL and ISABELLE,
respectively.  (The latter are still available as legacy feature.)

The old isabelle-interface wrapper could react in confusing ways if
the interface was uninstalled or changed otherwise.  Individual
interface tool configuration is now more explicit, see also the
Isabelle system manual.  In particular, Proof General is now available
via "isabelle emacs".

INCOMPATIBILITY, need to adapt derivative scripts.  Users may need to
purge installed copies of Isabelle executables and re-run "isabelle
install -p ...", or use symlinks.

* The default for ISABELLE_HOME_USER is now ~/.isabelle instead of the
old ~/isabelle, which was slightly non-standard and apt cause
surprises on case-insensitive file-systems.

INCOMPATIBILITY, need to move existing ~/isabelle/etc,
~/isabelle/heaps, ~/isabelle/browser_info to the new place.  Special
care is required when using older releases of Isabelle.  Note that
ISABELLE_HOME_USER can be changed in Isabelle/etc/settings of any
Isabelle distribution.

* Proofs of fully specified statements are run in parallel on
multi-core systems.  A speedup factor of 2-3 can be expected on a
regular 4-core machine, if the initial heap space is made reasonably
large (cf. Poly/ML option -H).  [Poly/ML 5.2.1 or later]

* The Isabelle System Manual (system) has been updated, with formally
checked references as hyperlinks.

* Generalized Isar history, with support for linear undo, direct state
addressing etc.

* Recovered hiding of consts, which was accidentally broken in
Isabelle2007.  Potential INCOMPATIBILITY, ``hide const c'' really
makes c inaccessible; consider using ``hide (open) const c'' instead.

* Removed exotic 'token_translation' command.  INCOMPATIBILITY, use ML
interface instead.

* There is a new syntactic category "float_const" for signed decimal
fractions (e.g. 123.45 or -123.45).


*** Pure ***

* Type Binding.T gradually replaces formerly used type bstring for names
to be bound.  Name space interface for declarations has been simplified:

  NameSpace.declare: NameSpace.naming
    -> Binding.T -> NameSpace.T -> string * NameSpace.T
  NameSpace.bind: NameSpace.naming
    -> Binding.T * 'a -> 'a NameSpace.table -> string * 'a NameSpace.table
         (*exception Symtab.DUP*)

See further modules src/Pure/General/binding.ML and
src/Pure/General/name_space.ML

* Module moves in repository:
    src/Pure/Tools/value.ML ~> src/Tools/
    src/Pure/Tools/quickcheck.ML ~> src/Tools/

* Slightly more coherent Pure syntax, with updated documentation in
isar-ref manual.  Removed locales meta_term_syntax and
meta_conjunction_syntax: TERM and &&& (formerly &&) are now permanent,
INCOMPATIBILITY in rare situations.

* Goal-directed proof now enforces strict proof irrelevance wrt. sort
hypotheses.  Sorts required in the course of reasoning need to be
covered by the constraints in the initial statement, completed by the
type instance information of the background theory.  Non-trivial sort
hypotheses, which rarely occur in practice, may be specified via
vacuous propositions of the form SORT_CONSTRAINT('a::c).  For example:

  lemma assumes "SORT_CONSTRAINT('a::empty)" shows False ...

The result contains an implicit sort hypotheses as before --
SORT_CONSTRAINT premises are eliminated as part of the canonical rule
normalization.

* Changed defaults for unify configuration options:

  unify_trace_bound = 50 (formerly 25)
  unify_search_bound = 60 (formerly 30)

* Different bookkeeping for code equations:
  a) On theory merge, the last set of code equations for a particular constant
     is taken (in accordance with the policy applied by other parts of the
     code generator framework).
  b) Code equations stemming from explicit declarations (e.g. code attribute)
     gain priority over default code equations stemming from definition, primrec,
     fun etc.
  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Global versions of theorems stemming from classes do not carry
a parameter prefix any longer.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Dropped locale element "includes".  This is a major INCOMPATIBILITY.
In existing theorem specifications replace the includes element by the
respective context elements of the included locale, omitting those that
are already present in the theorem specification.  Multiple assume
elements of a locale should be replaced by a single one involving the
locale predicate.  In the proof body, declarations (most notably
theorems) may be regained by interpreting the respective locales in the
proof context as required (command "interpret").
If using "includes" in replacement of a target solely because the
parameter types in the theorem are not as general as in the target,
consider declaring a new locale with additional type constraints on the
parameters (context element "constrains").

* Dropped "locale (open)".  INCOMPATBILITY.

* Interpretation commands no longer attempt to simplify goal.
INCOMPATIBILITY: in rare situations the generated goal differs.  Use
methods intro_locales and unfold_locales to clarify.

* Interpretation commands no longer accept interpretation attributes.
INCOMPATBILITY.

* Command 'instance': attached definitions no longer accepted.
INCOMPATIBILITY, use proper 'instantiation' target.

* Keyword 'code_exception' now named 'code_abort'.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* The 'axiomatization' command now only works within a global theory
context.  INCOMPATIBILITY.


*** Document preparation ***

* Antiquotation @{lemma} now imitates a regular terminal proof,
demanding keyword 'by' and supporting the full method expression
syntax just like the Isar command 'by'.


*** HOL ***

* Made repository layout more coherent with logical
distribution structure:

    src/HOL/Library/RType.thy ~> src/HOL/Typerep.thy
    src/HOL/Library/Code_Message.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Library/GCD.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Library/Order_Relation.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Library/Parity.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Library/Univ_Poly.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Real/ContNotDenum.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Real/Lubs.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Real/PReal.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Real/Rational.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Real/RComplete.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Real/RealDef.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Real/RealPow.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Real/Real.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Complex/Complex_Main.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Complex/Complex.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Complex/FrechetDeriv.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Hyperreal/Deriv.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Hyperreal/Fact.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Hyperreal/Integration.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Hyperreal/Lim.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Hyperreal/Ln.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Hyperreal/Log.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Hyperreal/MacLaurin.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Hyperreal/NthRoot.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Hyperreal/Series.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Hyperreal/Taylor.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Hyperreal/Transcendental.thy ~> src/HOL/
    src/HOL/Real/Float ~> src/HOL/Library/

    src/HOL/arith_data.ML ~> src/HOL/Tools
    src/HOL/hologic.ML ~> src/HOL/Tools
    src/HOL/simpdata.ML ~> src/HOL/Tools
    src/HOL/int_arith1.ML ~> src/HOL/Tools/int_arith.ML
    src/HOL/int_factor_simprocs.ML ~> src/HOL/Tools
    src/HOL/nat_simprocs.ML ~> src/HOL/Tools
    src/HOL/Real/float_arith.ML ~> src/HOL/Tools
    src/HOL/Real/float_syntax.ML ~> src/HOL/Tools
    src/HOL/Real/rat_arith.ML ~> src/HOL/Tools
    src/HOL/Real/real_arith.ML ~> src/HOL/Tools

* If methods "eval" and "evaluation" encounter a structured proof state
with !!/==>, only the conclusion is evaluated to True (if possible),
avoiding strange error messages.

* Simplifier: simproc for let expressions now unfolds if bound variable
occurs at most one time in let expression body.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* New classes "top" and "bot" with corresponding operations "top" and "bot"
in theory Orderings;  instantiation of class "complete_lattice" requires
instantiation of classes "top" and "bot".  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Changed definition lemma "less_fun_def" in order to provide an instance
for preorders on functions;  use lemma "less_le" instead.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Unified theorem tables for both code code generators.  Thus
[code func] has disappeared and only [code] remains.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Constants "undefined" and "default" replace "arbitrary".  Usually
"undefined" is the right choice to replace "arbitrary", though logically
there is no difference.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Generic ATP manager for Sledgehammer, based on ML threads instead of
Posix processes.  Avoids potentially expensive forking of the ML
process.  New thread-based implementation also works on non-Unix
platforms (Cygwin).  Provers are no longer hardwired, but defined
within the theory via plain ML wrapper functions.  Basic Sledgehammer
commands are covered in the isar-ref manual

* Wrapper scripts for remote SystemOnTPTP service allows to use
sledgehammer without local ATP installation (Vampire etc.).  See also
ISABELLE_HOME/contrib/SystemOnTPTP and the VAMPIRE_HOME setting
variable.  Other provers may be included via suitable ML wrappers, see
also src/HOL/ATP_Linkup.thy.

* Normalization by evaluation now allows non-leftlinear equations.
Declare with attribute [code nbe].

* Command "value" now integrates different evaluation
mechanisms.  The result of the first successful evaluation mechanism
is printed.  In square brackets a particular named evaluation
mechanisms may be specified (currently, [SML], [code] or [nbe]).  See
further src/HOL/ex/Eval_Examples.thy.

* New method "sizechange" to automate termination proofs using (a
modification of) the size-change principle. Requires SAT solver. See
src/HOL/ex/Termination.thy for examples.

* HOL/Orderings: class "wellorder" moved here, with explicit induction
rule "less_induct" as assumption.  For instantiation of "wellorder" by
means of predicate "wf", use rule wf_wellorderI.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* HOL/Orderings: added class "preorder" as superclass of "order".
INCOMPATIBILITY: Instantiation proofs for order, linorder
etc. slightly changed.  Some theorems named order_class.* now named
preorder_class.*.

* HOL/Finite_Set: added a new fold combinator of type
  ('a => 'b => 'b) => 'b => 'a set => 'b
Occasionally this is more convenient than the old fold combinator which is
now defined in terms of the new one and renamed to fold_image.

* HOL/Ring_and_Field and HOL/Divides: Definition of "op dvd" has been
moved to separate class dvd in Ring_and_Field; a couple of lemmas on
dvd has been generalized to class comm_semiring_1.  Likewise a bunch
of lemmas from Divides has been generalized from nat to class
semiring_div.  INCOMPATIBILITY.  This involves the following theorem
renames resulting from duplicate elimination:

    dvd_def_mod ~>          dvd_eq_mod_eq_0
    zero_dvd_iff ~>         dvd_0_left_iff
    dvd_0 ~>                dvd_0_right
    DIVISION_BY_ZERO_DIV ~> div_by_0
    DIVISION_BY_ZERO_MOD ~> mod_by_0
    mult_div ~>             div_mult_self2_is_id
    mult_mod ~>             mod_mult_self2_is_0

* HOL/Library/GCD: Curried operations gcd, lcm (for nat) and zgcd,
zlcm (for int); carried together from various gcd/lcm developements in
the HOL Distribution.  zgcd and zlcm replace former igcd and ilcm;
corresponding theorems renamed accordingly.  INCOMPATIBILY.  To
recover tupled syntax, use syntax declarations like:

    hide (open) const gcd
    abbreviation gcd where
      "gcd == (%(a, b). GCD.gcd a b)"
    notation (output)
      GCD.gcd ("gcd '(_, _')")

(analogously for lcm, zgcd, zlcm).

* HOL/Real/Rational: 'Fract k 0' now equals '0'.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* The real numbers offer decimal input syntax: 12.34 is translated into
  1234/10^4. This translation is not reversed upon output.

* New ML antiquotation @{code}: takes constant as argument, generates
corresponding code in background and inserts name of the corresponding
resulting ML value/function/datatype constructor binding in place.
All occurrences of @{code} with a single ML block are generated
simultaneously.  Provides a generic and safe interface for
instrumentalizing code generation.  See HOL/ex/Code_Antiq for a toy
example, or HOL/Complex/ex/ReflectedFerrack for a more ambitious
application.  In future you ought refrain from ad-hoc compiling
generated SML code on the ML toplevel.  Note that (for technical
reasons) @{code} cannot refer to constants for which user-defined
serializations are set.  Refer to the corresponding ML counterpart
directly in that cases.

* Integrated image HOL-Complex with HOL.  Entry points Main.thy and
Complex_Main.thy remain as they are.

* New image HOL-Plain provides a minimal HOL with the most important
tools available (inductive, datatype, primrec, ...).  By convention
the corresponding theory Plain should be ancestor of every further
(library) theory.  Some library theories now have ancestor Plain
(instead of Main), thus theory Main occasionally has to be imported
explicitly.

* The metis method now fails in the usual manner, rather than raising
an exception, if it determines that it cannot prove the theorem.

* The metis method no longer fails because the theorem is too trivial
(contains the empty clause).

* Methods "case_tac" and "induct_tac" now refer to the very same rules
as the structured Isar versions "cases" and "induct", cf. the
corresponding "cases" and "induct" attributes.  Mutual induction rules
are now presented as a list of individual projections
(e.g. foo_bar.inducts for types foo and bar); the old format with
explicit HOL conjunction is no longer supported.  INCOMPATIBILITY, in
rare situations a different rule is selected --- notably nested tuple
elimination instead of former prod.exhaust: use explicit (case_tac t
rule: prod.exhaust) here.

* Attributes "cases", "induct", "coinduct" support "del" option.

* Removed fact "case_split_thm", which duplicates "case_split".

* Command 'rep_datatype': instead of theorem names the command now
takes a list of terms denoting the constructors of the type to be
represented as datatype.  The characteristic theorems have to be
proven.  INCOMPATIBILITY.  Also observe that the following theorems
have disappeared in favour of existing ones:

    unit_induct                 ~> unit.induct
    prod_induct                 ~> prod.induct
    sum_induct                  ~> sum.induct
    Suc_Suc_eq                  ~> nat.inject
    Suc_not_Zero Zero_not_Suc   ~> nat.distinct

* Library/Nat_Infinity: added addition, numeral syntax and more
instantiations for algebraic structures.  Removed some duplicate
theorems.  Changes in simp rules.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* ATP selection (E/Vampire/Spass) is now via Proof General's settings
menu.


*** HOL-Algebra ***

* New locales for orders and lattices where the equivalence relation
  is not restricted to equality.  INCOMPATIBILITY: all order and
  lattice locales use a record structure with field eq for the
  equivalence.

* New theory of factorial domains.

* Units_l_inv and Units_r_inv are now simprules by default.
INCOMPATIBILITY.  Simplifier proof that require deletion of l_inv
and/or r_inv will now also require deletion of these lemmas.

* Renamed the following theorems.  INCOMPATIBILITY.
UpperD ~> Upper_memD
LowerD ~> Lower_memD
least_carrier ~> least_closed
greatest_carrier ~> greatest_closed
greatest_Lower_above ~> greatest_Lower_below
one_zero ~> carrier_one_zero
one_not_zero ~> carrier_one_not_zero  (collision with assumption)


*** HOL-NSA ***

* Created new image HOL-NSA, containing theories of nonstandard
analysis which were previously part of HOL-Complex.  Entry point
Hyperreal.thy remains valid, but theories formerly using
Complex_Main.thy should now use new entry point Hypercomplex.thy.


*** ZF ***

* Proof of Zorn's Lemma for partial orders.


*** ML ***

* High-level support for concurrent ML programming, see
src/Pure/Cuncurrent.  The data-oriented model of "future values" is
particularly convenient to organize independent functional
computations.  The concept of "synchronized variables" provides a
higher-order interface for components with shared state, avoiding the
delicate details of mutexes and condition variables.  [Poly/ML 5.2.1
or later]

* Simplified ML oracle interface Thm.add_oracle promotes 'a -> cterm
to 'a -> thm, while results are always tagged with an authentic oracle
name.  The Isar command 'oracle' is now polymorphic, no argument type
is specified.  INCOMPATIBILITY, need to simplify existing oracle code
accordingly.  Note that extra performance may be gained by producing
the cterm carefully, avoiding slow Thm.cterm_of.

* ML bindings produced via Isar commands are stored within the Isar
context (theory or proof).  Consequently, commands like 'use' and 'ML'
become thread-safe and work with undo as expected (concerning
top-level bindings, not side-effects on global references).
INCOMPATIBILITY, need to provide proper Isar context when invoking the
compiler at runtime; really global bindings need to be given outside a
theory. [Poly/ML 5.2 or later]

* Command 'ML_prf' is analogous to 'ML' but works within a proof
context. Top-level ML bindings are stored within the proof context in
a purely sequential fashion, disregarding the nested proof structure.
ML bindings introduced by 'ML_prf' are discarded at the end of the
proof.  [Poly/ML 5.2 or later]

* Generic Toplevel.add_hook interface allows to analyze the result of
transactions.  E.g. see src/Pure/ProofGeneral/proof_general_pgip.ML
for theorem dependency output of transactions resulting in a new
theory state.

* Name bindings in higher specification mechanisms (notably
LocalTheory.define, LocalTheory.note, and derived packages) are now
formalized as type Name.binding, replacing old bstring.
INCOMPATIBILITY, need to wrap strings via Name.binding function, see
also Name.name_of.  Packages should pass name bindings given by the
user to underlying specification mechanisms; this enables precise
tracking of source positions, for example.

* Result facts (from PureThy.note_thms, ProofContext.note_thms,
LocalTheory.note etc.) now refer to the *full* internal name, not the
bstring as before.  INCOMPATIBILITY, not detected by ML type-checking!

* Rules and tactics that read instantiations (read_instantiate,
res_inst_tac, thin_tac, subgoal_tac etc.) now demand a proper proof
context, which is required for parsing and type-checking.  Moreover,
the variables are specified as plain indexnames, not string encodings
thereof.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Disposed old type and term read functions (Sign.read_def_typ,
Sign.read_typ, Sign.read_def_terms, Sign.read_term,
Thm.read_def_cterms, Thm.read_cterm etc.).  INCOMPATIBILITY, should
use regular Syntax.read_typ, Syntax.read_term, Syntax.read_typ_global,
Syntax.read_term_global etc.; see also OldGoals.read_term as last
resort for legacy applications.

* Antiquotations: block-structured compilation context indicated by
\<lbrace> ... \<rbrace>; additional antiquotation forms:

  @{let ?pat = term}                      - term abbreviation (HO matching)
  @{note name = fact}                     - fact abbreviation
  @{thm fact}                             - singleton fact (with attributes)
  @{thms fact}                            - general fact (with attributes)
  @{lemma prop by method}                 - singleton goal
  @{lemma prop by meth1 meth2}            - singleton goal
  @{lemma prop1 ... propN by method}      - general goal
  @{lemma prop1 ... propN by meth1 meth2} - general goal
  @{lemma (open) ...}                     - open derivation


*** System ***

* Multithreading for Poly/ML 5.1/5.2 is no longer supported, only for
Poly/ML 5.2.1 or later.

* The Isabelle "emacs" tool provides a specific interface to invoke
Proof General / Emacs, with more explicit failure if that is not
installed (the old isabelle-interface script silently falls back on
isabelle-process).  The PROOFGENERAL_HOME setting determines the
installation location of the Proof General distribution.

* Isabelle/lib/classes/Pure.jar provides basic support to integrate
the Isabelle process into a JVM/Scala application.  See
Isabelle/lib/jedit/plugin for a minimal example.  (The obsolete Java
process wrapper has been discontinued.)

* Status messages (with exact source position information) are
emitted, if proper markup print mode is enabled.  This allows
user-interface components to provide detailed feedback on internal
prover operations.

* Homegrown Isabelle font with unicode layout, see Isabelle/lib/fonts.



New in Isabelle2008 (June 2008)
-------------------------------

*** General ***

* The Isabelle/Isar Reference Manual (isar-ref) has been reorganized
and updated, with formally checked references as hyperlinks.

* Theory loader: use_thy (and similar operations) no longer set the
implicit ML context, which was occasionally hard to predict and in
conflict with concurrency.  INCOMPATIBILITY, use ML within Isar which
provides a proper context already.

* Theory loader: old-style ML proof scripts being *attached* to a thy
file are no longer supported.  INCOMPATIBILITY, regular 'uses' and
'use' within a theory file will do the job.

* Name space merge now observes canonical order, i.e. the second space
is inserted into the first one, while existing entries in the first
space take precedence.  INCOMPATIBILITY in rare situations, may try to
swap theory imports.

* Syntax: symbol \<chi> is now considered a letter.  Potential
INCOMPATIBILITY in identifier syntax etc.

* Outer syntax: string tokens no longer admit escaped white space,
which was an accidental (undocumented) feature.  INCOMPATIBILITY, use
white space without escapes.

* Outer syntax: string tokens may contain arbitrary character codes
specified via 3 decimal digits (as in SML).  E.g. "foo\095bar" for
"foo_bar".


*** Pure ***

* Context-dependent token translations.  Default setup reverts locally
fixed variables, and adds hilite markup for undeclared frees.

* Unused theorems can be found using the new command 'unused_thms'.
There are three ways of invoking it:

(1) unused_thms
     Only finds unused theorems in the current theory.

(2) unused_thms thy_1 ... thy_n -
     Finds unused theorems in the current theory and all of its ancestors,
     excluding the theories thy_1 ... thy_n and all of their ancestors.

(3) unused_thms thy_1 ... thy_n - thy'_1 ... thy'_m
     Finds unused theorems in the theories thy'_1 ... thy'_m and all of
     their ancestors, excluding the theories thy_1 ... thy_n and all of
     their ancestors.

In order to increase the readability of the list produced by
unused_thms, theorems that have been created by a particular instance
of a theory command such as 'inductive' or 'function' are considered
to belong to the same "group", meaning that if at least one theorem in
this group is used, the other theorems in the same group are no longer
reported as unused.  Moreover, if all theorems in the group are
unused, only one theorem in the group is displayed.

Note that proof objects have to be switched on in order for
unused_thms to work properly (i.e. !proofs must be >= 1, which is
usually the case when using Proof General with the default settings).

* Authentic naming of facts disallows ad-hoc overwriting of previous
theorems within the same name space.  INCOMPATIBILITY, need to remove
duplicate fact bindings, or even accidental fact duplications.  Note
that tools may maintain dynamically scoped facts systematically, using
PureThy.add_thms_dynamic.

* Command 'hide' now allows to hide from "fact" name space as well.

* Eliminated destructive theorem database, simpset, claset, and
clasimpset.  Potential INCOMPATIBILITY, really need to observe linear
update of theories within ML code.

* Eliminated theory ProtoPure and CPure, leaving just one Pure theory.
INCOMPATIBILITY, object-logics depending on former Pure require
additional setup PureThy.old_appl_syntax_setup; object-logics
depending on former CPure need to refer to Pure.

* Commands 'use' and 'ML' are now purely functional, operating on
theory/local_theory.  Removed former 'ML_setup' (on theory), use 'ML'
instead.  Added 'ML_val' as mere diagnostic replacement for 'ML'.
INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Command 'setup': discontinued implicit version with ML reference.

* Instantiation target allows for simultaneous specification of class
instance operations together with an instantiation proof.
Type-checking phase allows to refer to class operations uniformly.
See src/HOL/Complex/Complex.thy for an Isar example and
src/HOL/Library/Eval.thy for an ML example.

* Indexing of literal facts: be more serious about including only
facts from the visible specification/proof context, but not the
background context (locale etc.).  Affects `prop` notation and method
"fact".  INCOMPATIBILITY: need to name facts explicitly in rare
situations.

* Method "cases", "induct", "coinduct": removed obsolete/undocumented
"(open)" option, which used to expose internal bound variables to the
proof text.

* Isar statements: removed obsolete case "rule_context".
INCOMPATIBILITY, better use explicit fixes/assumes.

* Locale proofs: default proof step now includes 'unfold_locales';
hence 'proof' without argument may be used to unfold locale
predicates.


*** Document preparation ***

* Simplified pdfsetup.sty: color/hyperref is used unconditionally for
both pdf and dvi (hyperlinks usually work in xdvi as well); removed
obsolete thumbpdf setup (contemporary PDF viewers do this on the
spot); renamed link color from "darkblue" to "linkcolor" (default
value unchanged, can be redefined via \definecolor); no longer sets
"a4paper" option (unnecessary or even intrusive).

* Antiquotation @{lemma A method} proves proposition A by the given
method (either a method name or a method name plus (optional) method
arguments in parentheses) and prints A just like @{prop A}.


*** HOL ***

* New primrec package.  Specification syntax conforms in style to
definition/function/....  No separate induction rule is provided.  The
"primrec" command distinguishes old-style and new-style specifications
by syntax.  The former primrec package is now named OldPrimrecPackage.
When adjusting theories, beware: constants stemming from new-style
primrec specifications have authentic syntax.

* Metis prover is now an order of magnitude faster, and also works
with multithreading.

* Metis: the maximum number of clauses that can be produced from a
theorem is now given by the attribute max_clauses.  Theorems that
exceed this number are ignored, with a warning printed.

* Sledgehammer no longer produces structured proofs by default. To
enable, declare [[sledgehammer_full = true]].  Attributes
reconstruction_modulus, reconstruction_sorts renamed
sledgehammer_modulus, sledgehammer_sorts.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Method "induct_scheme" derives user-specified induction rules
from well-founded induction and completeness of patterns. This factors
out some operations that are done internally by the function package
and makes them available separately.  See
src/HOL/ex/Induction_Scheme.thy for examples.

* More flexible generation of measure functions for termination
proofs: Measure functions can be declared by proving a rule of the
form "is_measure f" and giving it the [measure_function] attribute.
The "is_measure" predicate is logically meaningless (always true), and
just guides the heuristic.  To find suitable measure functions, the
termination prover sets up the goal "is_measure ?f" of the appropriate
type and generates all solutions by prolog-style backwards proof using
the declared rules.

This setup also deals with rules like 

  "is_measure f ==> is_measure (list_size f)"

which accommodates nested datatypes that recurse through lists.
Similar rules are predeclared for products and option types.

* Turned the type of sets "'a set" into an abbreviation for "'a => bool"

  INCOMPATIBILITIES:

  - Definitions of overloaded constants on sets have to be replaced by
    definitions on => and bool.

  - Some definitions of overloaded operators on sets can now be proved
    using the definitions of the operators on => and bool.  Therefore,
    the following theorems have been renamed:

      subset_def   -> subset_eq
      psubset_def  -> psubset_eq
      set_diff_def -> set_diff_eq
      Compl_def    -> Compl_eq
      Sup_set_def  -> Sup_set_eq
      Inf_set_def  -> Inf_set_eq
      sup_set_def  -> sup_set_eq
      inf_set_def  -> inf_set_eq

  - Due to the incompleteness of the HO unification algorithm, some
    rules such as subst may require manual instantiation, if some of
    the unknowns in the rule is a set.

  - Higher order unification and forward proofs:
    The proof pattern

      have "P (S::'a set)" <...>
      then have "EX S. P S" ..

    no longer works (due to the incompleteness of the HO unification
    algorithm) and must be replaced by the pattern

      have "EX S. P S"
      proof
        show "P S" <...>
      qed

  - Calculational reasoning with subst (or similar rules):
    The proof pattern

      have "P (S::'a set)" <...>
      also have "S = T" <...>
      finally have "P T" .

    no longer works (for similar reasons as the previous example) and
    must be replaced by something like

      have "P (S::'a set)" <...>
      moreover have "S = T" <...>
      ultimately have "P T" by simp

  - Tactics or packages written in ML code:
    Code performing pattern matching on types via

      Type ("set", [T]) => ...

    must be rewritten. Moreover, functions like strip_type or
    binder_types no longer return the right value when applied to a
    type of the form

      T1 => ... => Tn => U => bool

    rather than

      T1 => ... => Tn => U set

* Merged theories Wellfounded_Recursion, Accessible_Part and
Wellfounded_Relations to theory Wellfounded.

* Explicit class "eq" for executable equality.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Class finite no longer treats UNIV as class parameter.  Use class
enum from theory Library/Enum instead to achieve a similar effect.
INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Theory List: rule list_induct2 now has explicitly named cases "Nil"
and "Cons".  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* HOL (and FOL): renamed variables in rules imp_elim and swap.
Potential INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Theory Product_Type: duplicated lemmas split_Pair_apply and
injective_fst_snd removed, use split_eta and prod_eqI instead.
Renamed upd_fst to apfst and upd_snd to apsnd.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Theory Nat: removed redundant lemmas that merely duplicate lemmas of
the same name in theory Orderings:

  less_trans
  less_linear
  le_imp_less_or_eq
  le_less_trans
  less_le_trans
  less_not_sym
  less_asym

Renamed less_imp_le to less_imp_le_nat, and less_irrefl to
less_irrefl_nat.  Potential INCOMPATIBILITY due to more general types
and different variable names.

* Library/Option_ord.thy: Canonical order on option type.

* Library/RBT.thy: Red-black trees, an efficient implementation of
finite maps.

* Library/Countable.thy: Type class for countable types.

* Theory Int: The representation of numerals has changed.  The infix
operator BIT and the bit datatype with constructors B0 and B1 have
disappeared.  INCOMPATIBILITY, use "Int.Bit0 x" and "Int.Bit1 y" in
place of "x BIT bit.B0" and "y BIT bit.B1", respectively.  Theorems
involving BIT, B0, or B1 have been renamed with "Bit0" or "Bit1"
accordingly.

* Theory Nat: definition of <= and < on natural numbers no longer
depend on well-founded relations.  INCOMPATIBILITY.  Definitions
le_def and less_def have disappeared.  Consider lemmas not_less
[symmetric, where ?'a = nat] and less_eq [symmetric] instead.

* Theory Finite_Set: locales ACf, ACe, ACIf, ACIfSL and ACIfSLlin
(whose purpose mainly is for various fold_set functionals) have been
abandoned in favor of the existing algebraic classes
ab_semigroup_mult, comm_monoid_mult, ab_semigroup_idem_mult,
lower_semilattice (resp. upper_semilattice) and linorder.
INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Theory Transitive_Closure: induct and cases rules now declare proper
case_names ("base" and "step").  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Theorem Inductive.lfp_ordinal_induct generalized to complete
lattices.  The form set-specific version is available as
Inductive.lfp_ordinal_induct_set.

* Renamed theorems "power.simps" to "power_int.simps".
INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Class semiring_div provides basic abstract properties of semirings
with division and modulo operations.  Subsumes former class dvd_mod.

* Merged theories IntDef, Numeral and IntArith into unified theory
Int.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Theory Library/Code_Index: type "index" now represents natural
numbers rather than integers.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* New class "uminus" with operation "uminus" (split of from class
"minus" which now only has operation "minus", binary).
INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Constants "card", "internal_split", "option_map" now with authentic
syntax.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Definitions subset_def, psubset_def, set_diff_def, Compl_def,
le_bool_def, less_bool_def, le_fun_def, less_fun_def, inf_bool_def,
sup_bool_def, Inf_bool_def, Sup_bool_def, inf_fun_def, sup_fun_def,
Inf_fun_def, Sup_fun_def, inf_set_def, sup_set_def, Inf_set_def,
Sup_set_def, le_def, less_def, option_map_def now with object
equality.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Records. Removed K_record, and replaced it by pure lambda term
%x. c. The simplifier setup is now more robust against eta expansion.
INCOMPATIBILITY: in cases explicitly referring to K_record.

* Library/Multiset: {#a, b, c#} abbreviates {#a#} + {#b#} + {#c#}.

* Library/ListVector: new theory of arithmetic vector operations.

* Library/Order_Relation: new theory of various orderings as sets of
pairs.  Defines preorders, partial orders, linear orders and
well-orders on sets and on types.


*** ZF ***

* Renamed some theories to allow to loading both ZF and HOL in the
same session:

  Datatype  -> Datatype_ZF
  Inductive -> Inductive_ZF
  Int       -> Int_ZF
  IntDiv    -> IntDiv_ZF
  Nat       -> Nat_ZF
  List      -> List_ZF
  Main      -> Main_ZF

INCOMPATIBILITY: ZF theories that import individual theories below
Main might need to be adapted.  Regular theory Main is still
available, as trivial extension of Main_ZF.


*** ML ***

* ML within Isar: antiquotation @{const name} or @{const
name(typargs)} produces statically-checked Const term.

* Functor NamedThmsFun: data is available to the user as dynamic fact
(of the same name).  Removed obsolete print command.

* Removed obsolete "use_legacy_bindings" function.

* The ``print mode'' is now a thread-local value derived from a global
template (the former print_mode reference), thus access becomes
non-critical.  The global print_mode reference is for session
management only; user-code should use print_mode_value,
print_mode_active, PrintMode.setmp etc.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Functions system/system_out provide a robust way to invoke external
shell commands, with propagation of interrupts (requires Poly/ML
5.2.1).  Do not use OS.Process.system etc. from the basis library!


*** System ***

* Default settings: PROOFGENERAL_OPTIONS no longer impose xemacs ---
in accordance with Proof General 3.7, which prefers GNU emacs.

* isatool tty runs Isabelle process with plain tty interaction;
optional line editor may be specified via ISABELLE_LINE_EDITOR
setting, the default settings attempt to locate "ledit" and "rlwrap".

* isatool browser now works with Cygwin as well, using general
"javapath" function defined in Isabelle process environment.

* YXML notation provides a simple and efficient alternative to
standard XML transfer syntax.  See src/Pure/General/yxml.ML and
isatool yxml as described in the Isabelle system manual.

* JVM class isabelle.IsabelleProcess (located in Isabelle/lib/classes)
provides general wrapper for managing an Isabelle process in a robust
fashion, with ``cooked'' output from stdin/stderr.

* Rudimentary Isabelle plugin for jEdit (see Isabelle/lib/jedit),
based on Isabelle/JVM process wrapper (see Isabelle/lib/classes).

* Removed obsolete THIS_IS_ISABELLE_BUILD feature.  NB: the documented
way of changing the user's settings is via
ISABELLE_HOME_USER/etc/settings, which is a fully featured bash
script.

* Multithreading.max_threads := 0 refers to the number of actual CPU
cores of the underlying machine, which is a good starting point for
optimal performance tuning.  The corresponding usedir option -M allows
"max" as an alias for "0".  WARNING: does not work on certain versions
of Mac OS (with Poly/ML 5.1).

* isabelle-process: non-ML sessions are run with "nice", to reduce the
adverse effect of Isabelle flooding interactive front-ends (notably
ProofGeneral / XEmacs).



New in Isabelle2007 (November 2007)
-----------------------------------

*** General ***

* More uniform information about legacy features, notably a
warning/error of "Legacy feature: ...", depending on the state of the
tolerate_legacy_features flag (default true). FUTURE INCOMPATIBILITY:
legacy features will disappear eventually.

* Theory syntax: the header format ``theory A = B + C:'' has been
discontinued in favour of ``theory A imports B C begin''.  Use isatool
fixheaders to convert existing theory files.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Theory syntax: the old non-Isar theory file format has been
discontinued altogether.  Note that ML proof scripts may still be used
with Isar theories; migration is usually quite simple with the ML
function use_legacy_bindings.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Theory syntax: some popular names (e.g. 'class', 'declaration',
'fun', 'help', 'if') are now keywords.  INCOMPATIBILITY, use double
quotes.

* Theory loader: be more serious about observing the static theory
header specifications (including optional directories), but not the
accidental file locations of previously successful loads.  The strict
update policy of former update_thy is now already performed by
use_thy, so the former has been removed; use_thys updates several
theories simultaneously, just as 'imports' within a theory header
specification, but without merging the results.  Potential
INCOMPATIBILITY: may need to refine theory headers and commands
ROOT.ML which depend on load order.

* Theory loader: optional support for content-based file
identification, instead of the traditional scheme of full physical
path plus date stamp; configured by the ISABELLE_FILE_IDENT setting
(cf. the system manual).  The new scheme allows to work with
non-finished theories in persistent session images, such that source
files may be moved later on without requiring reloads.

* Theory loader: old-style ML proof scripts being *attached* to a thy
file (with the same base name as the theory) are considered a legacy
feature, which will disappear eventually. Even now, the theory loader
no longer maintains dependencies on such files.

* Syntax: the scope for resolving ambiguities via type-inference is
now limited to individual terms, instead of whole simultaneous
specifications as before. This greatly reduces the complexity of the
syntax module and improves flexibility by separating parsing and
type-checking. INCOMPATIBILITY: additional type-constraints (explicit
'fixes' etc.) are required in rare situations.

* Syntax: constants introduced by new-style packages ('definition',
'abbreviation' etc.) are passed through the syntax module in
``authentic mode''. This means that associated mixfix annotations
really stick to such constants, independently of potential name space
ambiguities introduced later on. INCOMPATIBILITY: constants in parse
trees are represented slightly differently, may need to adapt syntax
translations accordingly. Use CONST marker in 'translations' and
@{const_syntax} antiquotation in 'parse_translation' etc.

* Legacy goal package: reduced interface to the bare minimum required
to keep existing proof scripts running.  Most other user-level
functions are now part of the OldGoals structure, which is *not* open
by default (consider isatool expandshort before open OldGoals).
Removed top_sg, prin, printyp, pprint_term/typ altogether, because
these tend to cause confusion about the actual goal (!) context being
used here, which is not necessarily the same as the_context().

* Command 'find_theorems': supports "*" wild-card in "name:"
criterion; "with_dups" option.  Certain ProofGeneral versions might
support a specific search form (see ProofGeneral/CHANGES).

* The ``prems limit'' option (cf. ProofContext.prems_limit) is now -1
by default, which means that "prems" (and also "fixed variables") are
suppressed from proof state output.  Note that the ProofGeneral
settings mechanism allows to change and save options persistently, but
older versions of Isabelle will fail to start up if a negative prems
limit is imposed.

* Local theory targets may be specified by non-nested blocks of
``context/locale/class ... begin'' followed by ``end''.  The body may
contain definitions, theorems etc., including any derived mechanism
that has been implemented on top of these primitives.  This concept
generalizes the existing ``theorem (in ...)'' towards more versatility
and scalability.

* Proof General interface: proper undo of final 'end' command;
discontinued Isabelle/classic mode (ML proof scripts).


*** Document preparation ***

* Added antiquotation @{theory name} which prints the given name,
after checking that it refers to a valid ancestor theory in the
current context.

* Added antiquotations @{ML_type text} and @{ML_struct text} which
check the given source text as ML type/structure, printing verbatim.

* Added antiquotation @{abbrev "c args"} which prints the abbreviation
"c args == rhs" given in the current context.  (Any number of
arguments may be given on the LHS.)


*** Pure ***

* The 'class' package offers a combination of axclass and locale to
achieve Haskell-like type classes in Isabelle.  Definitions and
theorems within a class context produce both relative results (with
implicit parameters according to the locale context), and polymorphic
constants with qualified polymorphism (according to the class
context).  Within the body context of a 'class' target, a separate
syntax layer ("user space type system") takes care of converting
between global polymorphic consts and internal locale representation.
See src/HOL/ex/Classpackage.thy for examples (as well as main HOL).
"isatool doc classes" provides a tutorial.

* Generic code generator framework allows to generate executable
code for ML and Haskell (including Isabelle classes).  A short usage
sketch:

    internal compilation:
        export_code <list of constants (term syntax)> in SML
    writing SML code to a file:
        export_code <list of constants (term syntax)> in SML <filename>
    writing OCaml code to a file:
        export_code <list of constants (term syntax)> in OCaml <filename>
    writing Haskell code to a bunch of files:
        export_code <list of constants (term syntax)> in Haskell <filename>

    evaluating closed propositions to True/False using code generation:
        method ``eval''

Reasonable default setup of framework in HOL.

Theorem attributs for selecting and transforming function equations theorems:

    [code fun]:        select a theorem as function equation for a specific constant
    [code fun del]:    deselect a theorem as function equation for a specific constant
    [code inline]:     select an equation theorem for unfolding (inlining) in place
    [code inline del]: deselect an equation theorem for unfolding (inlining) in place

User-defined serializations (target in {SML, OCaml, Haskell}):

    code_const <and-list of constants (term syntax)>
      {(target) <and-list of const target syntax>}+

    code_type <and-list of type constructors>
      {(target) <and-list of type target syntax>}+

    code_instance <and-list of instances>
      {(target)}+
        where instance ::= <type constructor> :: <class>

    code_class <and_list of classes>
      {(target) <and-list of class target syntax>}+
        where class target syntax ::= <class name> {where {<classop> == <target syntax>}+}?

code_instance and code_class only are effective to target Haskell.

For example usage see src/HOL/ex/Codegenerator.thy and
src/HOL/ex/Codegenerator_Pretty.thy.  A separate tutorial on code
generation from Isabelle/HOL theories is available via "isatool doc
codegen".

* Code generator: consts in 'consts_code' Isar commands are now
referred to by usual term syntax (including optional type
annotations).

* Command 'no_translations' removes translation rules from theory
syntax.

* Overloaded definitions are now actually checked for acyclic
dependencies.  The overloading scheme is slightly more general than
that of Haskell98, although Isabelle does not demand an exact
correspondence to type class and instance declarations.
INCOMPATIBILITY, use ``defs (unchecked overloaded)'' to admit more
exotic versions of overloading -- at the discretion of the user!

Polymorphic constants are represented via type arguments, i.e. the
instantiation that matches an instance against the most general
declaration given in the signature.  For example, with the declaration
c :: 'a => 'a => 'a, an instance c :: nat => nat => nat is represented
as c(nat).  Overloading is essentially simultaneous structural
recursion over such type arguments.  Incomplete specification patterns
impose global constraints on all occurrences, e.g. c('a * 'a) on the
LHS means that more general c('a * 'b) will be disallowed on any RHS.
Command 'print_theory' outputs the normalized system of recursive
equations, see section "definitions".

* Configuration options are maintained within the theory or proof
context (with name and type bool/int/string), providing a very simple
interface to a poor-man's version of general context data.  Tools may
declare options in ML (e.g. using Attrib.config_int) and then refer to
these values using Config.get etc.  Users may change options via an
associated attribute of the same name.  This form of context
declaration works particularly well with commands 'declare' or
'using', for example ``declare [[foo = 42]]''.  Thus it has become
very easy to avoid global references, which would not observe Isar
toplevel undo/redo and fail to work with multithreading.

Various global ML references of Pure and HOL have been turned into
configuration options:

  Unify.search_bound		unify_search_bound
  Unify.trace_bound		unify_trace_bound
  Unify.trace_simp		unify_trace_simp
  Unify.trace_types		unify_trace_types
  Simplifier.simp_depth_limit	simp_depth_limit
  Blast.depth_limit		blast_depth_limit
  DatatypeProp.dtK		datatype_distinctness_limit
  fast_arith_neq_limit  	fast_arith_neq_limit
  fast_arith_split_limit	fast_arith_split_limit

* Named collections of theorems may be easily installed as context
data using the functor NamedThmsFun (see also
src/Pure/Tools/named_thms.ML).  The user may add or delete facts via
attributes; there is also a toplevel print command.  This facility is
just a common case of general context data, which is the preferred way
for anything more complex than just a list of facts in canonical
order.

* Isar: command 'declaration' augments a local theory by generic
declaration functions written in ML.  This enables arbitrary content
being added to the context, depending on a morphism that tells the
difference of the original declaration context wrt. the application
context encountered later on.

* Isar: proper interfaces for simplification procedures.  Command
'simproc_setup' declares named simprocs (with match patterns, and body
text in ML).  Attribute "simproc" adds/deletes simprocs in the current
context.  ML antiquotation @{simproc name} retrieves named simprocs.

* Isar: an extra pair of brackets around attribute declarations
abbreviates a theorem reference involving an internal dummy fact,
which will be ignored later --- only the effect of the attribute on
the background context will persist.  This form of in-place
declarations is particularly useful with commands like 'declare' and
'using', for example ``have A using [[simproc a]] by simp''.

* Isar: method "assumption" (and implicit closing of subproofs) now
takes simple non-atomic goal assumptions into account: after applying
an assumption as a rule the resulting subgoals are solved by atomic
assumption steps.  This is particularly useful to finish 'obtain'
goals, such as "!!x. (!!x. P x ==> thesis) ==> P x ==> thesis",
without referring to the original premise "!!x. P x ==> thesis" in the
Isar proof context.  POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY: method "assumption" is
more permissive.

* Isar: implicit use of prems from the Isar proof context is
considered a legacy feature.  Common applications like ``have A .''
may be replaced by ``have A by fact'' or ``note `A`''.  In general,
referencing facts explicitly here improves readability and
maintainability of proof texts.

* Isar: improper proof element 'guess' is like 'obtain', but derives
the obtained context from the course of reasoning!  For example:

  assume "EX x y. A x & B y"   -- "any previous fact"
  then guess x and y by clarify

This technique is potentially adventurous, depending on the facts and
proof tools being involved here.

* Isar: known facts from the proof context may be specified as literal
propositions, using ASCII back-quote syntax.  This works wherever
named facts used to be allowed so far, in proof commands, proof
methods, attributes etc.  Literal facts are retrieved from the context
according to unification of type and term parameters.  For example,
provided that "A" and "A ==> B" and "!!x. P x ==> Q x" are known
theorems in the current context, then these are valid literal facts:
`A` and `A ==> B` and `!!x. P x ==> Q x" as well as `P a ==> Q a` etc.

There is also a proof method "fact" which does the same composition
for explicit goal states, e.g. the following proof texts coincide with
certain special cases of literal facts:

  have "A" by fact                 ==  note `A`
  have "A ==> B" by fact           ==  note `A ==> B`
  have "!!x. P x ==> Q x" by fact  ==  note `!!x. P x ==> Q x`
  have "P a ==> Q a" by fact       ==  note `P a ==> Q a`

* Isar: ":" (colon) is no longer a symbolic identifier character in
outer syntax.  Thus symbolic identifiers may be used without
additional white space in declarations like this: ``assume *: A''.

* Isar: 'print_facts' prints all local facts of the current context,
both named and unnamed ones.

* Isar: 'def' now admits simultaneous definitions, e.g.:

  def x == "t" and y == "u"

* Isar: added command 'unfolding', which is structurally similar to
'using', but affects both the goal state and facts by unfolding given
rewrite rules.  Thus many occurrences of the 'unfold' method or
'unfolded' attribute may be replaced by first-class proof text.

* Isar: methods 'unfold' / 'fold', attributes 'unfolded' / 'folded',
and command 'unfolding' now all support object-level equalities
(potentially conditional).  The underlying notion of rewrite rule is
analogous to the 'rule_format' attribute, but *not* that of the
Simplifier (which is usually more generous).

* Isar: the new attribute [rotated n] (default n = 1) rotates the
premises of a theorem by n. Useful in conjunction with drule.

* Isar: the goal restriction operator [N] (default N = 1) evaluates a
method expression within a sandbox consisting of the first N
sub-goals, which need to exist.  For example, ``simp_all [3]''
simplifies the first three sub-goals, while (rule foo, simp_all)[]
simplifies all new goals that emerge from applying rule foo to the
originally first one.

* Isar: schematic goals are no longer restricted to higher-order
patterns; e.g. ``lemma "?P(?x)" by (rule TrueI)'' now works as
expected.

* Isar: the conclusion of a long theorem statement is now either
'shows' (a simultaneous conjunction, as before), or 'obtains'
(essentially a disjunction of cases with local parameters and
assumptions).  The latter allows to express general elimination rules
adequately; in this notation common elimination rules look like this:

  lemma exE:    -- "EX x. P x ==> (!!x. P x ==> thesis) ==> thesis"
    assumes "EX x. P x"
    obtains x where "P x"

  lemma conjE:  -- "A & B ==> (A ==> B ==> thesis) ==> thesis"
    assumes "A & B"
    obtains A and B

  lemma disjE:  -- "A | B ==> (A ==> thesis) ==> (B ==> thesis) ==> thesis"
    assumes "A | B"
    obtains
      A
    | B

The subsequent classical rules even refer to the formal "thesis"
explicitly:

  lemma classical:     -- "(~ thesis ==> thesis) ==> thesis"
    obtains "~ thesis"

  lemma Peirce's_Law:  -- "((thesis ==> something) ==> thesis) ==> thesis"
    obtains "thesis ==> something"

The actual proof of an 'obtains' statement is analogous to that of the
Isar proof element 'obtain', only that there may be several cases.
Optional case names may be specified in parentheses; these will be
available both in the present proof and as annotations in the
resulting rule, for later use with the 'cases' method (cf. attribute
case_names).

* Isar: the assumptions of a long theorem statement are available as
"assms" fact in the proof context.  This is more appropriate than the
(historical) "prems", which refers to all assumptions of the current
context, including those from the target locale, proof body etc.

* Isar: 'print_statement' prints theorems from the current theory or
proof context in long statement form, according to the syntax of a
top-level lemma.

* Isar: 'obtain' takes an optional case name for the local context
introduction rule (default "that").

* Isar: removed obsolete 'concl is' patterns.  INCOMPATIBILITY, use
explicit (is "_ ==> ?foo") in the rare cases where this still happens
to occur.

* Pure: syntax "CONST name" produces a fully internalized constant
according to the current context.  This is particularly useful for
syntax translations that should refer to internal constant
representations independently of name spaces.

* Pure: syntax constant for foo (binder "FOO ") is called "foo_binder"
instead of "FOO ". This allows multiple binder declarations to coexist
in the same context.  INCOMPATIBILITY.

* Isar/locales: 'notation' provides a robust interface to the 'syntax'
primitive that also works in a locale context (both for constants and
fixed variables). Type declaration and internal syntactic representation
of given constants retrieved from the context. Likewise, the
'no_notation' command allows to remove given syntax annotations from the
current context.

* Isar/locales: new derived specification elements 'axiomatization',
'definition', 'abbreviation', which support type-inference, admit
object-level specifications (equality, equivalence).  See also the
isar-ref manual.  Examples:

  axiomatization
    eq  (infix "===" 50) where
    eq_refl: "x === x" and eq_subst: "x === y ==> P x ==> P y"

  definition "f x y = x + y + 1"
  definition g where "g x = f x x"

  abbreviation
    neq  (infix "=!=" 50) where
    "x =!= y == ~ (x === y)"

These specifications may be also used in a locale context.  Then the
constants being introduced depend on certain fixed parameters, and the
constant name is qualified by the locale base name.  An internal
abbreviation takes care for convenient input and output, making the
parameters implicit and using the original short name.  See also
src/HOL/ex/Abstract_NAT.thy for an example of deriving polymorphic
entities from a monomorphic theory.

Presently, abbreviations are only available 'in' a target locale, but
not inherited by general import expressions.  Also note that
'abbreviation' may be used as a type-safe replacement for 'syntax' +
'translations' in common applications.  The "no_abbrevs" print mode
prevents folding of abbreviations in term output.

Concrete syntax is attached to specified constants in internal form,
independently of name spaces.  The parse tree representation is
slightly different -- use 'notation' instead of raw 'syntax', and
'translations' with explicit "CONST" markup to accommodate this.

* Pure/Isar: unified syntax for new-style specification mechanisms
(e.g.  'definition', 'abbreviation', or 'inductive' in HOL) admits
full type inference and dummy patterns ("_").  For example:

  definition "K x _ = x"

  inductive conj for A B
  where "A ==> B ==> conj A B"

* Pure: command 'print_abbrevs' prints all constant abbreviations of
the current context.  Print mode "no_abbrevs" prevents inversion of
abbreviations on output.

* Isar/locales: improved parameter handling: use of locales "var" and
"struct" no longer necessary; - parameter renamings are no longer
required to be injective.  For example, this allows to define
endomorphisms as locale endom = homom mult mult h.

* Isar/locales: changed the way locales with predicates are defined.
Instead of accumulating the specification, the imported expression is
now an interpretation.  INCOMPATIBILITY: different normal form of
locale expressions.  In particular, in interpretations of locales with
predicates, goals repesenting already interpreted fragments are not
removed automatically.  Use methods `intro_locales' and
`unfold_locales'; see below.

* Isar/locales: new methods `intro_locales' and `unfold_locales'
provide backward reasoning on locales predicates.  The methods are
aware of interpretations and discharge corresponding goals.
`intro_locales' is less aggressive then `unfold_locales' and does not
unfold predicates to assumptions.

* Isar/locales: the order in which locale fragments are accumulated
has changed.  This enables to override declarations from fragments due
to interpretations -- for example, unwanted simp rules.

* Isar/locales: interpretation in theories and proof contexts has been
extended.  One may now specify (and prove) equations, which are
unfolded in interpreted theorems.  This is useful for replacing
defined concepts (constants depending on locale parameters) by
concepts already existing in the target context.  Example:

  interpretation partial_order ["op <= :: [int, int] => bool"]
    where "partial_order.less (op <=) (x::int) y = (x < y)"

Typically, the constant `partial_order.less' is created by a
definition specification element in the context of locale
partial_order.