A Techniques-Based Programming Environment for Gödel

We describe an approach to program construction and maintenance in the declarative language Godel. This approach combines techniques with the verification of partial specifications. The programmer is provided with automated assistance in the enhancement of skeletons of code while being left free to complete the fine details by hand. The completed code is then verified with respect to partial specifications to ensure that the programmer has correctly implemented their intent. This approach is illustrated with a system, intended as a part of an environment for Godel, which employs such tools for the construction and verification of code. We show how the facilities of Godel - particularly its type system, control declarations and substantial system modules - make it a more advantageous language than Prolog for techniques-based program construction, and may also be exploited to good effect in both program construction and verification. Keywords: programming environments, program construct..