Nonfree datatypes in Isabelle/HOL: animating a many-sorted metatheory

Datatypes freely generated by their constructors are well supported in mainstream proof assistants. Algebraic specification languages offer more expressive datatypes on axiomatic means: nonfree datatypes generated from constructors modulo equations. We have implemented an Isabelle/HOL package for nonfree datatypes, without compromising foundations. The use of the package, and its nonfree iterator in particular, is illustrated with examples: bags, polynomials and λ-terms modulo α-equivalence. The many-sorted metatheory of nonfree datatypes is formalized as an ordinary Isabelle theory and is animated by the package into user-specified instances. HOL lacks a type of types, so we employ an ad hoc construction of a universe embedding the relevant parameter types