Constructively Characterizing Fold and Unfold

In this paper we formally state and prove theorems characterizing when a function can be constructively reformulated using the recursion operators fold and unfold, i.e. given a function h, when can a function g be constructed such that h = fold g or h = unfold g? These results are re nements of the classical characterization of fold and unfold given by Gibbons, Hutton and Altenkirch in [6]. The proofs presented here have been formalized in Nuprl's constructive type theory [5] and thereby yield program transformations which map a function h (accompanied by the evidence that h satis es the required conditions), to a function g such that h = fold g or, as the case may be, h = unfold g