52,877 research outputs found
A Denotational Semantics for Communicating Unstructured Code
An important property of programming language semantics is that they should
be compositional. However, unstructured low-level code contains goto-like
commands making it hard to define a semantics that is compositional. In this
paper, we follow the ideas of Saabas and Uustalu to structure low-level code.
This gives us the possibility to define a compositional denotational semantics
based on least fixed points to allow for the use of inductive verification
methods. We capture the semantics of communication using finite traces similar
to the denotations of CSP. In addition, we examine properties of this semantics
and give an example that demonstrates reasoning about communication and jumps.
With this semantics, we lay the foundations for a proof calculus that captures
both, the semantics of unstructured low-level code and communication.Comment: In Proceedings FESCA 2015, arXiv:1503.0437
Adaptable processes
We propose the concept of adaptable processes as a way of overcoming the
limitations that process calculi have for describing patterns of dynamic
process evolution. Such patterns rely on direct ways of controlling the
behavior and location of running processes, and so they are at the heart of the
adaptation capabilities present in many modern concurrent systems. Adaptable
processes have a location and are sensible to actions of dynamic update at
runtime; this allows to express a wide range of evolvability patterns for
concurrent processes. We introduce a core calculus of adaptable processes and
propose two verification problems for them: bounded and eventual adaptation.
While the former ensures that the number of consecutive erroneous states that
can be traversed during a computation is bound by some given number k, the
latter ensures that if the system enters into a state with errors then a state
without errors will be eventually reached. We study the (un)decidability of
these two problems in several variants of the calculus, which result from
considering dynamic and static topologies of adaptable processes as well as
different evolvability patterns. Rather than a specification language, our
calculus intends to be a basis for investigating the fundamental properties of
evolvable processes and for developing richer languages with evolvability
capabilities
Existential witness extraction in classical realizability and via a negative translation
We show how to extract existential witnesses from classical proofs using
Krivine's classical realizability---where classical proofs are interpreted as
lambda-terms with the call/cc control operator. We first recall the basic
framework of classical realizability (in classical second-order arithmetic) and
show how to extend it with primitive numerals for faster computations. Then we
show how to perform witness extraction in this framework, by discussing several
techniques depending on the shape of the existential formula. In particular, we
show that in the Sigma01-case, Krivine's witness extraction method reduces to
Friedman's through a well-suited negative translation to intuitionistic
second-order arithmetic. Finally we discuss the advantages of using call/cc
rather than a negative translation, especially from the point of view of an
implementation.Comment: 52 pages. Accepted in Logical Methods for Computer Science (LMCS),
201
Expression-based aliasing for OO-languages
Alias analysis has been an interesting research topic in verification and
optimization of programs. The undecidability of determining whether two
expressions in a program may reference to the same object is the main source of
the challenges raised in alias analysis. In this paper we propose an extension
of a previously introduced alias calculus based on program expressions, to the
setting of unbounded program executions s.a. infinite loops and recursive
calls. Moreover, we devise a corresponding executable specification in the
K-framework. An important property of our extension is that, in a
non-concurrent setting, the corresponding alias expressions can be
over-approximated in terms of a notion of regular expressions. This further
enables us to show that the associated K-machinery implements an algorithm that
always stops and provides a sound over-approximation of the "may aliasing"
information, where soundness stands for the lack of false negatives. As a case
study, we analyze the integration and further applications of the alias
calculus in SCOOP. The latter is an object-oriented programming model for
concurrency, recently formalized in Maude; K-definitions can be compiled into
Maude for execution
Problems in the context evaluation of individualized courses
From 1970 to 1974 an Individualized Study System (ISS) for mathematics courses for first year engineering students was developed. Because of changes in the curriculum, new courses had to be developed from August 1974. The context evaluation of these new courses (ISS-calculus) consisted mainly of the evaluation of the mathematics courses developed during the preceding years. After a year the Department decided to suspend ISS as a teaching system for calculus partly because of dissatisfaction of the teachers with ISS-calculus.\ud
This paper consists of two parts. Part one (sections 1,2) is a case study and summarizes the development of the system from 1970 to 1975. It examines in detail the problems encountered in this development with special attention to the role of the executive teacher. The organization of an ISS-course and the planning decisions to be taken become more complex according to the number of executive teachers. In part two (sections 3,4) we provide a classification of ISS courses to illustrate the complexity of the system and we offer some general advice on the management of individualized study systems
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