2,444 research outputs found
Formal Object Interaction Language: Modeling and Verification of Sequential and Concurrent Object-Oriented Software
As software systems become larger and more complex, developers require the ability to model abstract concepts while ensuring consistency across the entire project. The internet has changed the nature of software by increasing the desire for software deployment across multiple distributed platforms. Finally, increased dependence on technology requires assurance that designed software will perform its intended function. This thesis introduces the Formal Object Interaction Language (FOIL). FOIL is a new object-oriented modeling language specifically designed to address the cumulative shortcomings of existing modeling techniques. FOIL graphically displays software structure, sequential and concurrent behavior, process, and interaction in a simple unified notation, and has an algebraic representation based on a derivative of the π-calculus. The thesis documents the technique in which FOIL software models can be mathematically verified to anticipate deadlocks, ensure consistency, and determine object state reachability. Scalability is offered through the concept of behavioral inheritance; and, FOIL’s inherent support for modeling concurrent behavior and all known workflow patterns is demonstrated. The concepts of process achievability, process complete achievability, and process determinism are introduced with an algorithm for simulating the execution of a FOIL object model using a FOIL process model. Finally, a technique for using a FOIL process model as a constraint on FOIL object system execution is offered as a method to ensure that object-oriented systems modeled in FOIL will complete their processes based activities. FOIL’s capabilities are compared and contrasted with an extensive array of current software modeling techniques. FOIL is ideally suited for data-aware, behavior based systems such as interactive or process management software
Permission-Based Separation Logic for Multithreaded Java Programs
This paper presents a program logic for reasoning about multithreaded
Java-like programs with dynamic thread creation, thread joining and reentrant
object monitors. The logic is based on concurrent separation logic. It is the
first detailed adaptation of concurrent separation logic to a multithreaded
Java-like language. The program logic associates a unique static access
permission with each heap location, ensuring exclusive write accesses and
ruling out data races. Concurrent reads are supported through fractional
permissions. Permissions can be transferred between threads upon thread
starting, thread joining, initial monitor entrancies and final monitor exits.
In order to distinguish between initial monitor entrancies and monitor
reentrancies, auxiliary variables keep track of multisets of currently held
monitors. Data abstraction and behavioral subtyping are facilitated through
abstract predicates, which are also used to represent monitor invariants,
preconditions for thread starting and postconditions for thread joining.
Value-parametrized types allow to conveniently capture common strong global
invariants, like static object ownership relations. The program logic is
presented for a model language with Java-like classes and interfaces, the
soundness of the program logic is proven, and a number of illustrative examples
are presented
Specification of Synchronizing Processes
The formalism of temporal logic has been suggested to be an appropriate tool for expressing the semantics of concurrent programs. This paper is concerned with the application of temporal logic to the specification of factors affecting the synchronization of concurrent processes. Towards this end, we first introduce a model for synchronization and axiomatize its behavior. SYSL, a very high-level language for specifying synchronization properties, is then described. It is designed using the primitives of temporal logic and features constructs to express properties that affect synchronization in a fairly natural and modular fashion. Since the statements in the language have intuitive interpretations, specifications are humanly readable. In addition, since they possess appropriate formal semantics, unambiguous specifications result
A Concurrent Perspective on Smart Contracts
In this paper, we explore remarkable similarities between multi-transactional
behaviors of smart contracts in cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and classical
problems of shared-memory concurrency. We examine two real-world examples from
the Ethereum blockchain and analyzing how they are vulnerable to bugs that are
closely reminiscent to those that often occur in traditional concurrent
programs. We then elaborate on the relation between observable contract
behaviors and well-studied concurrency topics, such as atomicity, interference,
synchronization, and resource ownership. The described
contracts-as-concurrent-objects analogy provides deeper understanding of
potential threats for smart contracts, indicate better engineering practices,
and enable applications of existing state-of-the-art formal verification
techniques.Comment: 15 page
EOS: A project to investigate the design and construction of real-time distributed embedded operating systems
The EOS project is investigating the design and construction of a family of real-time distributed embedded operating systems for reliable, distributed aerospace applications. Using the real-time programming techniques developed in co-operation with NASA in earlier research, the project staff is building a kernel for a multiple processor networked system. The first six months of the grant included a study of scheduling in an object-oriented system, the design philosophy of the kernel, and the architectural overview of the operating system. In this report, the operating system and kernel concepts are described. An environment for the experiments has been built and several of the key concepts of the system have been prototyped. The kernel and operating system is intended to support future experimental studies in multiprocessing, load-balancing, routing, software fault-tolerance, distributed data base design, and real-time processing
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