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<title>Welcome to the Isabelle/jEdit Prover IDE</title>
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<center><h2><img alt="PIDE" src="PIDE.png" width="230" align="middle"/></h2></center>
<p>
<b>PIDE</b> is a framework for sophisticated Prover IDEs,
based on Isabelle/Scala technology that is integrated with Isabelle.
It is built around a concept of
<em>asynchronous document processing</em>, which is supported
natively by the <em>parallel proof engine</em> implemented in Isabelle/ML.
</p>
<p>
<b>Isabelle/jEdit</b> is the main example application within the PIDE
framework — it illustrates many of the ideas in a realistic
manner, ready to be used right now in Isabelle applications.
</p>
<p>
<em>Research and implementation of concepts around PIDE has started
around 2008 and was kindly supported by BMBF (http://www.bmbf.de),
Université Paris-Sud (http://www.u-psud.fr), Digiteo
(http://www.digiteo.fr), and ANR
(http://www.agence-nationale-recherche.fr).</em>
</p>
<h2>The Isabelle/jEdit Prover IDE</h2>
<p>
Isabelle/jEdit consists of some plugins for the well-known jEdit text
editor framework (http://www.jedit.org), according to the following
principles.
</p>
<ul>
<li>The original jEdit look-and-feel is generally preserved, although
some default properties have been changed to accommodate Isabelle
(e.g. the text area font).</li>
<li>Formal Isabelle/Isar text is checked asynchronously while editing.
The user is in full command of the editor, and the prover refrains
from locking portions of the buffer etc.</li>
<li>Prover feedback works via tooltips, syntax highlighting, colors,
boxes etc. based on semantic markup provided by Isabelle in the
background.</li>
<li>Using the mouse together with the modifier key <tt>C</tt>
(<tt>CONTROL</tt> on Linux or Windows,
<tt>COMMAND</tt> on Mac OS X) exposes additional information.</li>
<li>Dockable panels (e.g. <em>Output</em>) are managed as independent
windows by jEdit, which also allows multiple instances.</li>
<li>Prover process and source files are managed by the Isabelle/Scala on
the editor side. The prover experiences a mostly timeless and
stateless environment of formal document content.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Isabelle symbols and fonts</h2>
<ul>
<li>Isabelle supports infinitely many symbols:<br/>
α, β, γ, …<br/>
∀, ∃, ∨, ∧, ⟶, ⟷, …<br/>
≤, ≥, ⊓, ⊔, …<br/>
ℵ, △, ∇, …<br/>
<tt>\<foo></tt>, <tt>\<bar></tt>, <tt>\<baz></tt>, …<br/>
</li>
<li>There are some special control symbols to modify the style of a
<em>single</em> symbol:<br/>
⇩ subscript<br/>
⇧ superscript<br/>
⇣ subscript within identifier<br/>
⇡ superscript within identifier<br/>
❙ bold face</li>
<li>A default mapping relates some Isabelle symbols to Unicode points
(see <tt>$ISABELLE_HOME/etc/symbols</tt> and <tt>$ISABELLE_HOME_USER/etc/symbols</tt>).
</li>
<li>The <em>IsabelleText</em> font ensures that Unicode points are actually
seen on the screen (or printer).
</li>
<li>Input methods:
<ul>
<li>copy/paste from decoded source files</li>
<li>copy/paste from prover output</li>
<li>completion provided by Isabelle plugin, e.g.<br/>
<table border="1">
<tr><th><b>name</b></th> <th><b>abbreviation</b></th> <th><b>symbol</b></th></tr>
<tr><td>lambda</td> <td><tt>%</tt></td> <td>λ</td></tr>
<tr><td>Rightarrow</td> <td><tt>=></tt></td> <td>⇒</td></tr>
<tr><td>Longrightarrow</td> <td><tt>==></tt></td> <td>⟹</td></tr>
<tr><td>And</td> <td><tt>!!</tt></td> <td>⋀</td></tr>
<tr><td>equiv</td> <td><tt>==</tt></td> <td>≡</td></tr>
<tr><td>forall</td> <td><tt>!</tt></td> <td>∀</td></tr>
<tr><td>exists</td> <td><tt>?</tt></td> <td>∃</td></tr>
<tr><td>longrightarrow</td> <td><tt>--></tt></td> <td>⟶</td></tr>
<tr><td>and</td> <td><tt>/\</tt></td> <td>∧</td></tr>
<tr><td>or</td> <td><tt>\/</tt></td> <td>∨</td></tr>
<tr><td>not</td> <td><tt>~ </tt></td> <td>¬</td></tr>
<tr><td>noteq</td> <td><tt>~=</tt></td> <td>≠</td></tr>
<tr><td>in</td> <td><tt>:</tt></td> <td>∈</td></tr>
<tr><td>notin</td> <td><tt>~:</tt></td> <td>∉</td></tr>
<tr><td>sub</td> <td><tt>=_</tt></td> <td>⇩</td></tr>
<tr><td>sup</td> <td><tt>=^</tt></td> <td>⇧</td></tr>
<tr><td>isup</td> <td><tt>-_</tt></td> <td>⇣</td></tr>
<tr><td>isub</td> <td><tt>-^</tt></td> <td>⇡</td></tr>
<tr><td>bold</td> <td><tt>-.</tt></td> <td>❙</td></tr>
</table>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><b>NOTE:</b> The above abbreviations refer to the input method.
The logical notation provides ASCII alternatives that often
coincide, but deviate occasionally.
</li>
<li><b>NOTE:</b> Generic jEdit abbreviations or plugins perform similar
source replacement operations; this works for Isabelle as long
as the Unicode sequences coincide with the symbol mapping.
</li>
<li><b>NOTE:</b> Raw unicode characters within prover source files
should be restricted to informal parts, e.g. to write text in
non-latin alphabets. Mathematical symbols should be defined via the
official rendering tables.
</li>
</ul>
<h2>Limitations and known problems</h2>
<ul>
<li>Lack of dependency managed for auxiliary files that contribute
to a theory (e.g. <tt>ML_file</tt>).<br/>
<em>Workaround:</em> Re-load files manually within the prover.</li>
<li>Odd behavior of some diagnostic commands with global
side-effects, like writing a physical
file.<br/> <em>Workaround:</em> Avoid such commands.</li>
<li>No way to delete document nodes from the overall collection of
theories.<br/>
<em>Workaround:</em> Restart whole Isabelle/jEdit session in
worst-case situation.</li>
<li>No support for non-local markup, e.g. commands reporting on
previous commands (proof end on proof head), or markup produced by
loading external files.</li>
<li>The native MacOSX plugin for jEdit tends to be disruptive. It
might or might not improve the user experience, and is off by
default.</li>
<li>Java 7 on MacOSX is officially supported on Lion and Mountain
Lion, but not Snow Leopard. It usually works on the latter, but
there might be some instabilities.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Licenses and home sites of contributing systems</h2>
<ul>
<li>Isabelle: BSD-style</li>
<li>Scala: BSD-style <br/> http://www.scala-lang.org</li>
<li>jEdit: GPL (with special cases) <br/> http://www.jedit.org/</li>
<li>Lobo/Cobra: GPL and LGPL <br/> http://lobobrowser.org/</li>
</ul>
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