diff -r cb9d47632573 -r 2665170f104a doc-src/TutorialI/Recdef/document/simplification.tex
--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/doc-src/TutorialI/Recdef/document/simplification.tex	Wed Apr 19 12:59:38 2000 +0200
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+\begin{isabelle}%
+%
+\begin{isamarkuptext}%
+Once we have succeeded in proving all termination conditions, the recursion
+equations become simplification rules, just as with
+\isacommand{primrec}. In most cases this works fine, but there is a subtle
+problem that must be mentioned: simplification may not
+terminate because of automatic splitting of \isa{if}.
+Let us look at an example:%
+\end{isamarkuptext}%
+\isacommand{consts}~gcd~::~{"}nat*nat~{\isasymRightarrow}~nat{"}\isanewline
+\isacommand{recdef}~gcd~{"}measure~({\isasymlambda}(m,n).n){"}\isanewline
+~~{"}gcd~(m,~n)~=~(if~n=0~then~m~else~gcd(n,~m~mod~n)){"}%
+\begin{isamarkuptext}%
+\noindent
+According to the measure function, the second argument should decrease with
+each recursive call. The resulting termination condition%
+\end{isamarkuptext}%
+~{"}n~{\isasymnoteq}~0~{\isasymLongrightarrow}~m~mod~n~<~n{"}%
+\begin{isamarkuptext}%
+\noindent
+is provded automatically because it is already present as a lemma in the
+arithmetic library. Thus the recursion equation becomes a simplification
+rule. Of course the equation is nonterminating if we are allowed to unfold
+the recursive call inside the \isa{else} branch, which is why programming
+languages and our simplifier don't do that. Unfortunately the simplifier does
+something else which leads to the same problem: it splits \isa{if}s if the
+condition simplifies to neither \isa{True} nor \isa{False}. For
+example, simplification reduces%
+\end{isamarkuptext}%
+~{"}gcd(m,n)~=~k{"}%
+\begin{isamarkuptext}%
+\noindent
+in one step to%
+\end{isamarkuptext}%
+~{"}(if~n=0~then~m~else~gcd(n,~m~mod~n))~=~k{"}%
+\begin{isamarkuptext}%
+\noindent
+where the condition cannot be reduced further, and splitting leads to%
+\end{isamarkuptext}%
+~{"}(n=0~{\isasymlongrightarrow}~m=k)~{\isasymand}~(n{\isasymnoteq}0~{\isasymlongrightarrow}~gcd(n,~m~mod~n)=k){"}%
+\begin{isamarkuptext}%
+\noindent
+Since the recursive call \isa{gcd(n, m mod n)} is no longer protected by
+an \isa{if}, this leads to an infinite chain of simplification steps.
+Fortunately, this problem can be avoided in many different ways.
+
+Of course the most radical solution is to disable the offending
+\isa{split_if} as shown in the section on case splits in
+\S\ref{sec:SimpFeatures}.
+However, we do not recommend this because it means you will often have to
+invoke the rule explicitly when \isa{if} is involved.
+
+If possible, the definition should be given by pattern matching on the left
+rather than \isa{if} on the right. In the case of \isa{gcd} the
+following alternative definition suggests itself:%
+\end{isamarkuptext}%
+\isacommand{consts}~gcd1~::~{"}nat*nat~{\isasymRightarrow}~nat{"}\isanewline
+\isacommand{recdef}~gcd1~{"}measure~({\isasymlambda}(m,n).n){"}\isanewline
+~~{"}gcd1~(m,~0)~=~m{"}\isanewline
+~~{"}gcd1~(m,~n)~=~gcd1(n,~m~mod~n){"}%
+\begin{isamarkuptext}%
+\noindent
+Note that the order of equations is important and hides the side condition
+\isa{n \isasymnoteq\ 0}. Unfortunately, in general the case distinction
+may not be expressible by pattern matching.
+
+A very simple alternative is to replace \isa{if} by \isa{case}, which
+is also available for \isa{bool} but is not split automatically:%
+\end{isamarkuptext}%
+\isacommand{consts}~gcd2~::~{"}nat*nat~{\isasymRightarrow}~nat{"}\isanewline
+\isacommand{recdef}~gcd2~{"}measure~({\isasymlambda}(m,n).n){"}\isanewline
+~~{"}gcd2(m,n)~=~(case~n=0~of~True~{\isasymRightarrow}~m~|~False~{\isasymRightarrow}~gcd2(n,m~mod~n)){"}%
+\begin{isamarkuptext}%
+\noindent
+In fact, this is probably the neatest solution next to pattern matching.
+
+A final alternative is to replace the offending simplification rules by
+derived conditional ones. For \isa{gcd} it means we have to prove%
+\end{isamarkuptext}%
+\isacommand{lemma}~[simp]:~{"}gcd~(m,~0)~=~m{"}\isanewline
+\isacommand{apply}(simp)\isacommand{.}\isanewline
+\isacommand{lemma}~[simp]:~{"}n~{\isasymnoteq}~0~{\isasymLongrightarrow}~gcd(m,~n)~=~gcd(n,~m~mod~n){"}\isanewline
+\isacommand{apply}(simp)\isacommand{.}%
+\begin{isamarkuptext}%
+\noindent
+after which we can disable the original simplification rule:%
+\end{isamarkuptext}%
+\isacommand{lemmas}~[simp~del]~=~gcd.simps\isanewline
+\end{isabelle}%