1,745 research outputs found
Fixpoint semantics and simulation
A general functorial framework for recursive definitions is presented in which simulation of a definition scheme by another one implies an ordering between the values defined by these schemes in an arbitrary model. Under mild conditions on the functor involved, the converse implication also holds: a model is constructed such that, if the values defined are ordered, there is a simulation between the definition schemes. The theory is illustrated by applications to context-free grammars, recursive procedures in imperative languages, and simulation and bisimulation of processes. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.</p
Model-Checking Process Equivalences
Process equivalences are formal methods that relate programs and system
which, informally, behave in the same way. Since there is no unique notion of
what it means for two dynamic systems to display the same behaviour there are a
multitude of formal process equivalences, ranging from bisimulation to trace
equivalence, categorised in the linear-time branching-time spectrum.
We present a logical framework based on an expressive modal fixpoint logic
which is capable of defining many process equivalence relations: for each such
equivalence there is a fixed formula which is satisfied by a pair of processes
if and only if they are equivalent with respect to this relation. We explain
how to do model checking, even symbolically, for a significant fragment of this
logic that captures many process equivalences. This allows model checking
technology to be used for process equivalence checking. We show how partial
evaluation can be used to obtain decision procedures for process equivalences
from the generic model checking scheme.Comment: In Proceedings GandALF 2012, arXiv:1210.202
Initial Draft of a Possible Declarative Semantics for the Language
This article introduces a preliminary declarative semantics for a subset of the language Xcerpt (so-called
grouping-stratifiable programs) in form of a classical (Tarski style) model theory, adapted to the specific
requirements of Xcerpt’s constructs (e.g. the various aspects of incompleteness in query terms, grouping
constructs in rule heads, etc.). Most importantly, the model theory uses term simulation as a replacement
for term equality to handle incomplete term specifications, and an extended notion of substitutions in
order to properly convey the semantics of grouping constructs. Based upon this model theory, a fixpoint
semantics is also described, leading to a first notion of forward chaining evaluation of Xcerpt program
Characterising Probabilistic Processes Logically
In this paper we work on (bi)simulation semantics of processes that exhibit
both nondeterministic and probabilistic behaviour. We propose a probabilistic
extension of the modal mu-calculus and show how to derive characteristic
formulae for various simulation-like preorders over finite-state processes
without divergence. In addition, we show that even without the fixpoint
operators this probabilistic mu-calculus can be used to characterise these
behavioural relations in the sense that two states are equivalent if and only
if they satisfy the same set of formulae.Comment: 18 page
Expressiveness and Completeness in Abstraction
We study two notions of expressiveness, which have appeared in abstraction
theory for model checking, and find them incomparable in general. In
particular, we show that according to the most widely used notion, the class of
Kripke Modal Transition Systems is strictly less expressive than the class of
Generalised Kripke Modal Transition Systems (a generalised variant of Kripke
Modal Transition Systems equipped with hypertransitions). Furthermore, we
investigate the ability of an abstraction framework to prove a formula with a
finite abstract model, a property known as completeness. We address the issue
of completeness from a general perspective: the way it depends on certain
abstraction parameters, as well as its relationship with expressiveness.Comment: In Proceedings EXPRESS/SOS 2012, arXiv:1208.244
A Faithful Semantics for Generalised Symbolic Trajectory Evaluation
Generalised Symbolic Trajectory Evaluation (GSTE) is a high-capacity formal
verification technique for hardware. GSTE uses abstraction, meaning that
details of the circuit behaviour are removed from the circuit model. A
semantics for GSTE can be used to predict and understand why certain circuit
properties can or cannot be proven by GSTE. Several semantics have been
described for GSTE. These semantics, however, are not faithful to the proving
power of GSTE-algorithms, that is, the GSTE-algorithms are incomplete with
respect to the semantics.
The abstraction used in GSTE makes it hard to understand why a specific
property can, or cannot, be proven by GSTE. The semantics mentioned above
cannot help the user in doing so. The contribution of this paper is a faithful
semantics for GSTE. That is, we give a simple formal theory that deems a
property to be true if-and-only-if the property can be proven by a GSTE-model
checker. We prove that the GSTE algorithm is sound and complete with respect to
this semantics
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
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