925 research outputs found
Program transformation for development, verification, and synthesis of programs
This paper briefly describes the use of the program transformation methodology for the development of correct and efficient programs. In particular, we will refer to the case of constraint logic programs and, through some examples, we will show how by program transformation, one can improve, synthesize, and verify programs
Program Transformation for Development, Verification, and Synthesis of Software
In this paper we briefly describe the use of the program transformation methodology for the development of correct
and efficient programs. We will consider, in particular,
the case of the transformation and the development of constraint logic programs
Proving theorems by program transformation
In this paper we present an overview of the unfold/fold proof method, a method for proving theorems about programs, based on program transformation. As a metalanguage for specifying programs and program properties we adopt constraint logic programming (CLP), and we present a set of transformation rules (including the familiar unfolding and folding rules) which preserve the semantics of CLP programs. Then, we show how program transformation strategies can be used, similarly to theorem proving tactics, for guiding the application of the transformation rules and inferring the properties to be proved. We work out three examples: (i) the proof of predicate equivalences, applied to the verification of equality between CCS processes, (ii) the proof of first order formulas via an extension of the quantifier elimination method, and (iii) the proof of temporal properties of infinite state concurrent systems, by using a transformation strategy that performs program specialization
Verification of Imperative Programs by Constraint Logic Program Transformation
We present a method for verifying partial correctness properties of
imperative programs that manipulate integers and arrays by using techniques
based on the transformation of constraint logic programs (CLP). We use CLP as a
metalanguage for representing imperative programs, their executions, and their
properties. First, we encode the correctness of an imperative program, say
prog, as the negation of a predicate 'incorrect' defined by a CLP program T. By
construction, 'incorrect' holds in the least model of T if and only if the
execution of prog from an initial configuration eventually halts in an error
configuration. Then, we apply to program T a sequence of transformations that
preserve its least model semantics. These transformations are based on
well-known transformation rules, such as unfolding and folding, guided by
suitable transformation strategies, such as specialization and generalization.
The objective of the transformations is to derive a new CLP program TransfT
where the predicate 'incorrect' is defined either by (i) the fact 'incorrect.'
(and in this case prog is not correct), or by (ii) the empty set of clauses
(and in this case prog is correct). In the case where we derive a CLP program
such that neither (i) nor (ii) holds, we iterate the transformation. Since the
problem is undecidable, this process may not terminate. We show through
examples that our method can be applied in a rather systematic way, and is
amenable to automation by transferring to the field of program verification
many techniques developed in the field of program transformation.Comment: In Proceedings Festschrift for Dave Schmidt, arXiv:1309.455
Transformations of Logic Programs on Infinite Lists
We consider an extension of logic programs, called \omega-programs, that can
be used to define predicates over infinite lists. \omega-programs allow us to
specify properties of the infinite behavior of reactive systems and, in
general, properties of infinite sequences of events. The semantics of
\omega-programs is an extension of the perfect model semantics. We present
variants of the familiar unfold/fold rules which can be used for transforming
\omega-programs. We show that these new rules are correct, that is, their
application preserves the perfect model semantics. Then we outline a general
methodology based on program transformation for verifying properties of
\omega-programs. We demonstrate the power of our transformation-based
verification methodology by proving some properties of Buechi automata and
\omega-regular languages.Comment: 37 pages, including the appendix with proofs. This is an extended
version of a paper published in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming, see
belo
Transformations of CCP programs
We introduce a transformation system for concurrent constraint programming
(CCP). We define suitable applicability conditions for the transformations
which guarantee that the input/output CCP semantics is preserved also when
distinguishing deadlocked computations from successful ones and when
considering intermediate results of (possibly) non-terminating computations.
The system allows us to optimize CCP programs while preserving their intended
meaning: In addition to the usual benefits that one has for sequential
declarative languages, the transformation of concurrent programs can also lead
to the elimination of communication channels and of synchronization points, to
the transformation of non-deterministic computations into deterministic ones,
and to the crucial saving of computational space. Furthermore, since the
transformation system preserves the deadlock behavior of programs, it can be
used for proving deadlock freeness of a given program wrt a class of queries.
To this aim it is sometimes sufficient to apply our transformations and to
specialize the resulting program wrt the given queries in such a way that the
obtained program is trivially deadlock free.Comment: To appear in ACM TOPLA
A survey of program transformation with special reference to unfold/fold style program development
This paper consists of a survey of current, and past, work on *program transformation* for the purpose of optimization. We first discuss some of the general methodological frameworks for program modification, such as *analogy*, *explanation based learning*, *partial evaluation*, *proof theoretic optimization*, and the *unfold/fold* technique. These frameworks are not mutually exclusive, and the latter, unfold/fold, is certainly the most widely used technique, in various guises, for program transformation. Thus we shall often have occasion to: compare the relative merits of systems that employ the technique in some form, *and*; compare the unfold/fold systems with those that employ alternative techniques. We also include (and compare with unfold/fold) a brief survey of recent work concerning the use of *formal methods* for program transformation
Finite Countermodel Based Verification for Program Transformation (A Case Study)
Both automatic program verification and program transformation are based on
program analysis. In the past decade a number of approaches using various
automatic general-purpose program transformation techniques (partial deduction,
specialization, supercompilation) for verification of unreachability properties
of computing systems were introduced and demonstrated. On the other hand, the
semantics based unfold-fold program transformation methods pose themselves
diverse kinds of reachability tasks and try to solve them, aiming at improving
the semantics tree of the program being transformed. That means some
general-purpose verification methods may be used for strengthening program
transformation techniques. This paper considers the question how finite
countermodels for safety verification method might be used in Turchin's
supercompilation method. We extract a number of supercompilation sub-algorithms
trying to solve reachability problems and demonstrate use of an external
countermodel finder for solving some of the problems.Comment: In Proceedings VPT 2015, arXiv:1512.0221
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