What is Isabelle?
Isabelle is a generic proof assistant. It allows mathematical formulas to be expressed in a formal language and provides tools for proving those formulas in a logical calculus. Isabelle is developed at University of Cambridge (Larry Paulson), Technische Universität München (Tobias Nipkow) and Université Paris-Sud (Makarius Wenzel). See the Isabelle overview for a brief introduction.
Now available: Isabelle2013-1
Some highlights:
- Significantly improved Isabelle/jEdit Prover IDE.
- Consolidated multi-platform support: Linux, Windows, Mac OS X.
- Added and updated manuals: datatypes, implementation, isar-ref, jedit.
- New Spec_Check tool: Quickcheck for Isabelle/ML.
- HOL library enhancements: Complex_Main, HOL-Library, HOL-Multivariate_Analysis.
- HOL tool enhancements: Codegenerator, Function, Lifting, Transfer, Nitpick, Sledgehammer.
- HOL-BNF: significantly improved BNF-based (co)datatype package.
See also the cumulative NEWS.
Distribution & Support
Isabelle is distributed for free under the BSD license. It includes source and binary packages and documentation, see the detailed installation instructions. A vast collection of Isabelle examples and applications is available from the Archive of Formal Proofs.
Support is available by ample documentation, the Isabelle community Wiki, Stack Overflow, and in particular the following mailing lists:
- {isabelle-users} AT [cl.cam.ac.uk] provides a forum for Isabelle users to discuss problems, exchange information, and make announcements. Users of official Isabelle releases should subscribe or see the archive (also available via Google groups and Narkive).
- {isabelle-dev} AT [in.tum.de] covers the Isabelle development process, including intermediate repository versions, and administrative issues concerning the website or testing infrastructure. Early adopters of repository versions should subscribe or see the archive (also available at mail-archive.com or gmane.org).