Request for comment on v2.0 of the VNNLIB standard
Matthew Daggitt
Dear VNN-list,
(Apologies to those I've already contacted individually)..
I currently have two Masters students, Ann and Allen, who are working on a hypothetical version 2.0 of the VNNLIB standard with the assistance of the original VNNLIB team in Italy.
As part of Ann and Allen's work, they've refined and extended the standard in various directions. Some of the main developments include:
- Adding a formal grammar for the VNNLib language
- Adding a formal semantics (in progress)
- Standardised support for queries with a) multiple networks, b) multiple inputs and outputs and c) hidden layers.
- Defining a standardised interface to invoke verifiers
- Defining a standardised interface for verifiers to report their capabilities.
- Developing a fast, standardised C++/Python parser extracted automatically from the grammar.
The first rough draft of the new standard document is attached and the repository where they're working (which includes the grammar) can be found here: https://github.com/VNNLIB/EVNNLIB.
We were hoping to get some feedback from the VNN community, address the feedback and rough edges, and if it meets with community approval, maybe get it adopted in time for VNNCOMP 2026 next year.
If you have any feedback, we're hoping to arrange a series of 30 minutes - 1 hour meetings to discuss the draft with various interested parties. If you're interested in joining you can put down your availability here: https://www.when2meet.com/?31469273-jtmLK. Alternatively, you can either reply to this email or open an issue on the GitHub tracker.
If you know anyone who is not on this list and who you think would be interested in providing input on the standard, please feel free to forward this email on to them.
Best,
Matthew