244 research outputs found
A Survey of Languages for Specifying Dynamics: A Knowledge Engineering Perspective
A number of formal specification languages for knowledge-based systems has been developed. Characteristics for knowledge-based systems are a complex knowledge base and an inference engine which uses this knowledge to solve a given problem. Specification languages for knowledge-based systems have to cover both aspects. They have to provide the means to specify a complex and large amount of knowledge and they have to provide the means to specify the dynamic reasoning behavior of a knowledge-based system. We focus on the second aspect. For this purpose, we survey existing approaches for specifying dynamic behavior in related areas of research. In fact, we have taken approaches for the specification of information systems (Language for Conceptual Modeling and TROLL), approaches for the specification of database updates and logic programming (Transaction Logic and Dynamic Database Logic) and the generic specification framework of abstract state machine
Kleene algebra with domain
We propose Kleene algebra with domain (KAD), an extension of Kleene algebra
with two equational axioms for a domain and a codomain operation, respectively.
KAD considerably augments the expressiveness of Kleene algebra, in particular
for the specification and analysis of state transition systems. We develop the
basic calculus, discuss some related theories and present the most important
models of KAD. We demonstrate applicability by two examples: First, an
algebraic reconstruction of Noethericity and well-foundedness; second, an
algebraic reconstruction of propositional Hoare logic.Comment: 40 page
The Structure of Differential Invariants and Differential Cut Elimination
The biggest challenge in hybrid systems verification is the handling of
differential equations. Because computable closed-form solutions only exist for
very simple differential equations, proof certificates have been proposed for
more scalable verification. Search procedures for these proof certificates are
still rather ad-hoc, though, because the problem structure is only understood
poorly. We investigate differential invariants, which define an induction
principle for differential equations and which can be checked for invariance
along a differential equation just by using their differential structure,
without having to solve them. We study the structural properties of
differential invariants. To analyze trade-offs for proof search complexity, we
identify more than a dozen relations between several classes of differential
invariants and compare their deductive power. As our main results, we analyze
the deductive power of differential cuts and the deductive power of
differential invariants with auxiliary differential variables. We refute the
differential cut elimination hypothesis and show that, unlike standard cuts,
differential cuts are fundamental proof principles that strictly increase the
deductive power. We also prove that the deductive power increases further when
adding auxiliary differential variables to the dynamics
An interactive semantics of logic programming
We apply to logic programming some recently emerging ideas from the field of
reduction-based communicating systems, with the aim of giving evidence of the
hidden interactions and the coordination mechanisms that rule the operational
machinery of such a programming paradigm. The semantic framework we have chosen
for presenting our results is tile logic, which has the advantage of allowing a
uniform treatment of goals and observations and of applying abstract
categorical tools for proving the results. As main contributions, we mention
the finitary presentation of abstract unification, and a concurrent and
coordinated abstract semantics consistent with the most common semantics of
logic programming. Moreover, the compositionality of the tile semantics is
guaranteed by standard results, as it reduces to check that the tile systems
associated to logic programs enjoy the tile decomposition property. An
extension of the approach for handling constraint systems is also discussed.Comment: 42 pages, 24 figure, 3 tables, to appear in the CUP journal of Theory
and Practice of Logic Programmin
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Algebraic specification : syntax, semantics, structure
Algebraic specification is the technique of using algebras to model properties of a system and using axioms to characterize such algebras. Algebraic specification comprises two aspects: the underlying logic used in the axioms and algebras, and the use of a small, general set of operators to build specifications in a structured manner. We describe these two aspects using the unifying notion of institutions. An institution is an abstraction of a logical system, describing the vocabulary, the kinds of axioms, the kinds of algebras, and the relation between them. Using institutions, one can define general structuring operators which are independent of the underlying logic. In this paper, we survey the different kind of logics, syntax, semantics, and structuring operators that have been used in algebraic specification
Optimizing Abstract Abstract Machines
The technique of abstracting abstract machines (AAM) provides a systematic
approach for deriving computable approximations of evaluators that are easily
proved sound. This article contributes a complementary step-by-step process for
subsequently going from a naive analyzer derived under the AAM approach, to an
efficient and correct implementation. The end result of the process is a two to
three order-of-magnitude improvement over the systematically derived analyzer,
making it competitive with hand-optimized implementations that compute
fundamentally less precise results.Comment: Proceedings of the International Conference on Functional Programming
2013 (ICFP 2013). Boston, Massachusetts. September, 201
Interaction Trees: Representing Recursive and Impure Programs in Coq
"Interaction trees" (ITrees) are a general-purpose data structure for
representing the behaviors of recursive programs that interact with their
environments. A coinductive variant of "free monads," ITrees are built out of
uninterpreted events and their continuations. They support compositional
construction of interpreters from "event handlers", which give meaning to
events by defining their semantics as monadic actions. ITrees are expressive
enough to represent impure and potentially nonterminating, mutually recursive
computations, while admitting a rich equational theory of equivalence up to
weak bisimulation. In contrast to other approaches such as relationally
specified operational semantics, ITrees are executable via code extraction,
making them suitable for debugging, testing, and implementing software
artifacts that are amenable to formal verification.
We have implemented ITrees and their associated theory as a Coq library,
mechanizing classic domain- and category-theoretic results about program
semantics, iteration, monadic structures, and equational reasoning. Although
the internals of the library rely heavily on coinductive proofs, the interface
hides these details so that clients can use and reason about ITrees without
explicit use of Coq's coinduction tactics.
To showcase the utility of our theory, we prove the termination-sensitive
correctness of a compiler from a simple imperative source language to an
assembly-like target whose meanings are given in an ITree-based denotational
semantics. Unlike previous results using operational techniques, our
bisimulation proof follows straightforwardly by structural induction and
elementary rewriting via an equational theory of combinators for control-flow
graphs.Comment: 28 pages, 4 pages references, published at POPL 202
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