151 research outputs found
Second-Order Algebraic Theories
Fiore and Hur recently introduced a conservative extension of universal
algebra and equational logic from first to second order. Second-order universal
algebra and second-order equational logic respectively provide a model theory
and a formal deductive system for languages with variable binding and
parameterised metavariables. This work completes the foundations of the subject
from the viewpoint of categorical algebra. Specifically, the paper introduces
the notion of second-order algebraic theory and develops its basic theory. Two
categorical equivalences are established: at the syntactic level, that of
second-order equational presentations and second-order algebraic theories; at
the semantic level, that of second-order algebras and second-order functorial
models. Our development includes a mathematical definition of syntactic
translation between second-order equational presentations. This gives the first
formalisation of notions such as encodings and transforms in the context of
languages with variable binding
Weakly Equivalent Arrays
The (extensional) theory of arrays is widely used to model systems. Hence,
efficient decision procedures are needed to model check such systems. Current
decision procedures for the theory of arrays saturate the read-over-write and
extensionality axioms originally proposed by McCarthy. Various filters are used
to limit the number of axiom instantiations while preserving completeness. We
present an algorithm that lazily instantiates lemmas based on weak equivalence
classes. These lemmas are easier to interpolate as they only contain existing
terms. We formally define weak equivalence and show correctness of the
resulting decision procedure
Modeling Algorithms in SystemC and ACL2
We describe the formal language MASC, based on a subset of SystemC and
intended for modeling algorithms to be implemented in hardware. By means of a
special-purpose parser, an algorithm coded in SystemC is converted to a MASC
model for the purpose of documentation, which in turn is translated to ACL2 for
formal verification. The parser also generates a SystemC variant that is
suitable as input to a high-level synthesis tool. As an illustration of this
methodology, we describe a proof of correctness of a simple 32-bit radix-4
multiplier.Comment: In Proceedings ACL2 2014, arXiv:1406.123
What's Decidable About Sequences?
We present a first-order theory of sequences with integer elements,
Presburger arithmetic, and regular constraints, which can model significant
properties of data structures such as arrays and lists. We give a decision
procedure for the quantifier-free fragment, based on an encoding into the
first-order theory of concatenation; the procedure has PSPACE complexity. The
quantifier-free fragment of the theory of sequences can express properties such
as sortedness and injectivity, as well as Boolean combinations of periodic and
arithmetic facts relating the elements of the sequence and their positions
(e.g., "for all even i's, the element at position i has value i+3 or 2i"). The
resulting expressive power is orthogonal to that of the most expressive
decidable logics for arrays. Some examples demonstrate that the fragment is
also suitable to reason about sequence-manipulating programs within the
standard framework of axiomatic semantics.Comment: Fixed a few lapses in the Mergesort exampl
A Historical Perspective on Runtime Assertion Checking in Software Development
This report presents initial results in the area of software testing and analysis produced as part of the Software Engineering Impact Project. The report describes the historical development of runtime assertion checking, including a description of the origins of and significant features associated with assertion checking mechanisms, and initial findings about current industrial use. A future report will provide a more comprehensive assessment of development practice, for which we invite readers of this report to contribute information
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
El debate acerca de la verificación formal de los programas
En este trabajo nos concentramos en un análisis de los argrunentos presentados en
(Fetzer:l988). Luego de la apasionada discusión que siguió a este articulo, Fetzer mantuvo sus
opiniones, por ejemplo en el trabajo (Fetzer:l991). Si bien han aparecido criticas de los
argrunentos de Fetzer- (por ejemplo Barwise: 1989), suelen seguir citándose estos trabajos (por
ejemplo Eden:2007, o el curso de Tedre) para sostener la imposibilidad de la verificación formal
o la insuficiencia. Esto último parece ser cierto, pero no por los argrunentos presentado por
Fetzer sino por la dificultad de validar los modelos obtenidos a partir de especificaciones
formales
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