hatt-1.5.0.0: README.md

Hatt
====

[Hatt] is a command-line program which prints truth tables for expressions in
classical propositional logic, and a library allowing its parser, evaluator and
truth table generator to be used in other programs.


Installation
------------

Hatt is available from [Hackage]. To install it with `cabal-install`, update
your list of known packages and then install Hatt.

    $ cabal update
    $ cabal install hatt

To build it from source, `cd` into the directory containing the Hatt source
files, including `hatt.cabal`, and run `cabal install`.


Valid Hatt expressions
----------------------

The following are all valid expression forms which can be parsed by Hatt, where
ϕ and ψ are metalinguistic variables standing in for any valid expression.

* Variables: `P`, `Q`, `a`, `b` etc.---basically anything in the character
  class `[a-zA-Z]`
* Negation: `~ϕ`
* Conjunction: `(ϕ & ψ)`
* Disjunction: `(ϕ | ψ)`
* Conditional: `(ϕ -> ψ)`
* Biconditional: `(ϕ <-> ψ)`

Parentheses are not required around top-level formulae, regardless of whether
the primary connective is binary. For example, the expression `a | b` is valid
and will be parsed correctly, as would `p <-> (q & ~r)`, although the
parenthesised versions of both these expressions (`(a | b)` and
`(p <-> (q & ~r))`) are also fine.

There is currently no support for operator precedence, so nested expressions
must be parenthesised correctly for the parser to make sense of them.


Using the `hatt` command-line program
-------------------------------------

The default mode is interactive: you start the program, enter expressions at
the prompt, and their truth tables are printed. Here's an example session.

    $ hatt
    Entering interactive mode. Type `help` if you don't know what to do!
    > A | B
    A B | (A | B)
    -------------
    T T | T
    T F | T
    F T | T
    F F | F
    > p -> (q & ~r)
    p q r | (p -> (q & ~r))
    -----------------------
    T T T | F
    T T F | T
    T F T | F
    T F F | F
    F T T | T
    F T F | T
    F F T | T
    F F F | T
    > e <-> f
    e f | (e <-> f)
    ---------------
    T T | T
    T F | F
    F T | F
    F F | T
    > exit

The `--evaluate` flag lets you pass a single expression to be evaluated
directly.

    $ hatt --evaluate="P -> (Q | ~R)"
    P Q R | (P -> (Q | ~R))
    -----------------------
    T T T | F
    T T F | F
    T F T | F
    T F F | F
    F T T | F
    F T F | F
    F F T | T
    F F F | F

By default, `hatt` will print ASCII representations of expressions. If you have
a Unicode-capable terminal, try passing the `--pretty` option to pretty-print
expressions using the the more common logical symbols.

    $ hatt --evaluate="P -> (Q | ~R)" --pretty
    P Q R | (P → (Q ∨ ¬R))
    ----------------------
    T T T | F
    T T F | F
    T F T | F
    T F F | F
    F T T | F
    F T F | F
    F F T | T
    F F F | F

You can enable pretty-printing while in interactive mode by using the `pretty`
command.

If you pass the `--coloured` flag, `hatt` will colour the truth values in the
tables which it prints: green for true, red for false. You can enable colouring
during interactive mode by using the `colour` command.

You can print out the normal forms of expressions too, by prefixing an
expression with `nnf`, `dnf` or `cnf`.

    $ hatt --pretty
    > nnf ~(P -> (Q & R))
    (P ∧ (¬Q ∨ ¬R))

The three supported normal forms are [negation normal form], [conjunctive normal
form] and [disjunctive normal form].


Using Hatt in other programs
----------------------------

Hatt exposes the `Data.Logic.Propositional` module, which provides a simple API
for parsing, evaluating, and printing truth tables, and for converting logical
expressions into normal forms.


[Hatt]:    http://extralogical.net/projects/hatt
[Hackage]: http://hackage.haskell.org/
[negation normal form]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negation_normal_form
[conjunctive normal form]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunctive_normal_form
[disjunctive normal form]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disjunctive_normal_form