Advances in Property-Based Testing for αProlog

alpha Check is a light-weight property-based testing tool built on top of alpha Prolog, a logic programming language based on nominal logic. alpha Prolog is particularly suited to the validation of the meta-theory of formal systems, for example correctness of compiler translations involving name-binding, alpha-equivalence and capture-avoiding substitution. In this paper we describe an alternative to the negation elimination algorithm underlying alpha Check that substantially improves its effectiveness. To substantiate this claim we compare the checker performances w.r.t. two of its main competitors in the logical framework niche, namely the QuickCheck/Nitpick combination offered by Isabelle/HOL and the random testing facility in PLT-Redex.