Lazy but Effective Functional Synthesis

Abstract

We present a new technique for generating a function implementation from a declarative specification formulated as a ∀∃ -formula in first-order logic. We follow a classic approach of eliminating existential quantifiers and extracting Skolem functions for the theory of linear arithmetic. Our method eliminates quantifiers lazily and produces a synthesis solution in the form of a decision tree. Compared to prior approaches, our decision trees have fewer nodes due to deriving theory terms that can be shared both within a single output as well as across multiple outputs. Our approach is implemented in a tool called AE-VAL, and its evaluation on a set of reactive synthesis benchmarks shows promise.