Building an IDE for the Calculational Derivation of Imperative Programs

In this paper, we describe an IDE called CAPS (Calculational Assistant for Programming from Specifications) for the interactive, calculational derivation of imperative programs. In building CAPS, our aim has been to make the IDE accessible to non-experts while retaining the overall flavor of the pen-and-paper calculational style. We discuss the overall architecture of the CAPS system, the main features of the IDE, the GUI design, and the trade-offs involved.Comment: In Proceedings F-IDE 2015, arXiv:1508.0338

Generating Programs plus Proofs by Refinement 1 Technical Approach

We advocate an automated refinement approach to developing programs and their proofs. The approach is partially embodied in the Specware system [6] which has found industrial and government applications. Our view is that the future of software engineering lies in the tight integration of synthesis and analysis processes. Specifications Refinement-oriented development starts with the requirements of the procuring organization. These requirements are typically a mixture of informal and semiformal notations that reflect the needs of the organization. To provide the basis for a clear contract, the requirements must be formalized into specifications that both the procuring organization (the buyer) and the developer (the seller) can agree to. Specifications can be expressed at a variety of levels of abstraction. At one extreme a suitable high-level programming language can sometimes serve to express executable specifications. However, an executable specification requires the inclusion of implementation detail that (1) is time-consuming to develo