Programming Language Theory in Agda
This looks like it&#x27;s (going to be) about a theory of programming languages as based on some form of the lambda calculus. I think it doesn&#x27;t get pointed out enough that this is not a descriptive science but more of a normative theory with mathematical elements. It doesn&#x27;t try to analyze and compare existing programming languages. It asserts how they <i>ought</i> to be and derives consequences from this. In this sense, it&#x27;s less like the theory of evolution and more like a political or aesthetical movement.<p>Wadler himself seems to dislike calling this &quot;computer science&quot;: <i>&quot;You don&#x27;t put science in your name if you&#x27;re a real science.&quot;</i> I&#x27;m quite sure he meant it differently, but it fits my argument to quote him out of context :)<p>The book itself is still unfinished obviously. Most of it seems to be a formalization of the absolute basics of constructive logic currently. I&#x27;m also not sure how far they are really going to go here; feasibly formalizing the meta theory of agda (Martin-Löf type theory) in agda itself seems to be an open problem. Yes, seriously.<p>I found agda much less opaque than coq and especially isabel. It seems much more cumbersome to work with in practice though. I doubt agda will ever be used for serious proofs beyond hello world or very specialized areas as long as there is not more automation... at which point you&#x27;re back at a variant of coq.