rebuttal

Review 2

> Cite a standard type checking algorithm.

For instance,
A. Abel, T. Coquand, "Untyped Algorithmic Equality for Martin-Löf’s Logical
Framework (extended version)".

> Theorem 1

Indeed \Gamma and \Sigma are assumed to be correct as a premise to the
statement. The precise formulation (for type checking) is:

  <\Sigma> \Gamma |- e ^ A ~> M ==> <\Sigma'> /\ \Gamma |-_\Sigma A type
  \implies \Sigma' extends \Sigma /\ \Gamma |-_{\Sigma'} M : A

Here \Gamma |- \Sigma A type implies that \Gamma and \Sigma are well-formed.
The statements for the other judgement forms are similar. To save space we cut
all of the precise formulations, which made the statement unneccesarily
unclear.

> Theorem 2

The premise \Gamma |-_\Sigma A type is missing. This is a typo.

> On p.7 the rule in paragraph "Conversion rules"...

The rule is correct. p takes arguments of types \Gamma and A_1 and returns a
term of type A_2.

> On p.8, the first rule has several typos...

The rule is correct. The relationship between A and B is

  B[\bar M/\Delta] = A = B[\bar N/\Delta]

which is guaranteed by the fact that h \bar{M} and h \bar{N} have type A (this
invariant is stated on p.6 in the second paragraph).  Consequently we don't need
to check it. The choice of names for the type of h in the text is unfortunate
and should match the type in the rule to avoid confusion.

> Where do you use pattern unification?

We only instantiate meta-variables if they are applied to distinct variables
(last rule on p.8). This is the same restriction as in pattern unification.

> Are you implying that a correct unification algorithm (returning a
> substitution that does unify) could be too strong?

We are not sure what you mean here. The main point of our algorithm is that
substitutions are well-typed. Not all unification algorithms produce well-typed
substitutions.

> How are the types of terms unified before the terms are unified?

This is ensured by the invariant (second paragraph on p.6) that all constraints
are well-typed, i.e when we try to solve a constraint \Gamma |- M = N : A we
know that \Gamma |- M : A and \Gamma |- N : A, and so the types unify
trivially. The invariant is maintained by introducing guarded constants.