14 research outputs found
Transforming ASN.1 Specifications into CafeOBJ to assist with Property Checking
The adoption of algebraic specification/formal method techniques by the
networks' research community is happening slowly but steadily. We work towards
a software environment that can translate a protocol's specification, from
Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1 - a very popular specification language
with many applications), into the powerful algebraic specification language
CafeOBJ. The resulting code can be used to check, validate and falsify critical
properties of systems, at the pre-coding stage of development. In this paper,
we introduce some key elements of ASN.1 and CafeOBJ and sketch some first steps
towards the implementation of such a tool including a case study.Comment: 8 pages, 12 figure
Software Specification, Implementation and Execution with Perfect. Department of Computer Science, Technical Report Series. NUIM-CS-TR-2005-07
Perfect is an Object Oriented programming language that is supported by the
Perfect Developer software development tool. The paper presents the techniques
that Perfect supports for the specification and implementation of software. The
executable code produced by Perfect is also discussed. A guideline to the techniques
of software development is provided by the paper, illustrating the many
software development mechanisms that are supported by Perfect and the Perfect
Developer tool
Twenty years of rewriting logic
AbstractRewriting logic is a simple computational logic that can naturally express both concurrent computation and logical deduction with great generality. This paper provides a gentle, intuitive introduction to its main ideas, as well as a survey of the work that many researchers have carried out over the last twenty years in advancing: (i) its foundations; (ii) its semantic framework and logical framework uses; (iii) its language implementations and its formal tools; and (iv) its many applications to automated deduction, software and hardware specification and verification, security, real-time and cyber-physical systems, probabilistic systems, bioinformatics and chemical systems
Event-B in the Institutional Framework: Defining a Semantics, Modularisation Constructs and Interoperability for a Specification Language
Event-B is an industrial-strength specification language for verifying
the properties of a given system’s specification. It is supported by its
Eclipse-based IDE, Rodin, and uses the process of refinement to model
systems at different levels of abstraction. Although a mature formalism,
Event-B has a number of limitations. In this thesis, we demonstrate that
Event-B lacks formally defined modularisation constructs. Additionally,
interoperability between Event-B and other formalisms has been
achieved in an ad hoc manner. Moreover, although a formal language,
Event-B does not have a formal semantics. We address each of these
limitations in this thesis using the theory of institutions.
The theory of institutions provides a category-theoretic way of representing
a formalism. Formalisms that have been represented as institutions
gain access to an array of generic specification-building operators
that can be used to modularise specifications in a formalismindependent
manner. In the theory of institutions, there are constructs
(known as institution (co)morphisms) that provide us with the facility to
create interoperability between formalisms in a mathematically sound
way.
The main contribution of this thesis is the definition of an institution
for Event-B, EVT, which allows us to address its identified limitations.
To this end, we formally define a translational semantics from Event-
B to EVT. We show how specification-building operators can provide
a unified set of modularisation constructs for Event-B. In fact, the institutional
framework that we have incorporated Event-B into is more
accommodating to modularisation than the current state-of-the-art for
Rodin. Furthermore, we present institution morphisms that facilitate interoperability between the respective institutions for Event-B and UML.
This approach is more generic than the current approach to interoperability
for Event-B and in fact, allows access to any formalism or logic
that has already been defined as an institution. Finally, by defining
EVT, we have outlined the steps required in order to include similar
formalisms into the institutional framework. Hence, this thesis acts as a
template for defining an institution for a specification language
Coalgebraic Methods for Object-Oriented Specification
This thesis is about coalgebraic methods in software specification and verification. It extends known techniques of coalgebraic specification to a more general level to pave the way for real world applications of software verification. There are two main contributions of the present thesis: 1. Chapter 3 proposes a generalisation of the familiar notion of coalgebra such that classes containing methods with arbitrary types (including binary methods) can be modelled with these generalised coalgebras. 2. Chapter 4 presents the specification language CCSL (short for Coalgebraic Class Specification Language), its syntax, its semantics, and a prototype compiler that translates CCSL into higher-order logic.Die Dissertation beschreibt coalgebraische Mittel und Methoden zur Softwarespezifikation und -verifikation. Die Ergebnisse dieser Dissertation vereinfachen die Anwendung coalgebraischer Spezifikations- und Verifikationstechniken und erweitern deren Anwendbarkeit. Damit werden Softwareverifikation im Allgemeinen und im Besonderen coalgebraische Methoden zur Softwareverifikation der praktischen Anwendbarkeit ein Stück nähergebracht. Diese Dissertation enthält zwei wesentliche Beiträge: 1. Im Kapitel 3 wird eine Erweiterung des klassischen Begriffs der Coalgebra vorgestellt. Diese Erweiterung erlaubt die coalgebraische Modellierung von Klassenschnittstellen mit beliebigen Methodentypen (insbesondere mit binären Methoden). 2. Im Kapitel 4 wird die coalgebraische Spezifikationssprache CCSL (Coalgebraic Class Specification Language) vorgestellt. Die Bescheibung umfasst Syntax, Semantik und einen Prototypcompiler, der CCSL Spezifikationen in Logik höherer Ordnung (passend für die Theorembeweiser PVS und Isabelle/HOL) übersetzt
The 2020 Expert Survey on Formal Methods
International audienc