7,176 research outputs found
Mechanized semantics
The goal of this lecture is to show how modern theorem provers---in this
case, the Coq proof assistant---can be used to mechanize the specification of
programming languages and their semantics, and to reason over individual
programs and over generic program transformations, as typically found in
compilers. The topics covered include: operational semantics (small-step,
big-step, definitional interpreters); a simple form of denotational semantics;
axiomatic semantics and Hoare logic; generation of verification conditions,
with application to program proof; compilation to virtual machine code and its
proof of correctness; an example of an optimizing program transformation (dead
code elimination) and its proof of correctness
Object orientation without extending Z
The good news of this paper is that without extending Z,
we can elegantly specify object-oriented systems, including encapsulation,
inheritance and subtype polymorphism (dynamic dispatch). The
bad news is that this specification style is rather different to normal
Z specifications, more abstract and axiomatic, which means that it is
not so well supported by current Z tools such as animators. It also enforces
behavioural subtyping, unlike most object-oriented programming
languages. This paper explains the proposed style, with examples, and
discusses its advantages and disadvantages
Model Theory and Entailment Rules for RDF Containers, Collections and Reification
An RDF graph is, at its core, just a set of statements consisting of subjects, predicates and objects. Nevertheless, since its inception
practitioners have asked for richer data structures such as containers (for
open lists, sets and bags), collections (for closed lists) and reification (for
quoting and provenance). Though this desire has been addressed in the
RDF primer and RDF Schema specification, they are explicitely ignored
in its model theory. In this paper we formalize the intuitive semantics
(as suggested by the RDF primer, the RDF Schema and RDF semantics specifications) of these compound data structures by two orthogonal
extensions of the RDFS model theory (RDFCC for RDF containers and
collections, and RDFR for RDF reification). Second, we give a set of
entailment rules that is sound and complete for the RDFCC and RDFR
model theories. We show that complexity of RDFCC and RDFR entailment remains the same as that of simple RDF entailment
On the engineering of crucial software
The various aspects of the conventional software development cycle are examined. This cycle was the basis of the augmented approach contained in the original grant proposal. This cycle was found inadequate for crucial software development, and the justification for this opinion is presented. Several possible enhancements to the conventional software cycle are discussed. Software fault tolerance, a possible enhancement of major importance, is discussed separately. Formal verification using mathematical proof is considered. Automatic programming is a radical alternative to the conventional cycle and is discussed. Recommendations for a comprehensive approach are presented, and various experiments which could be conducted in AIRLAB are described
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