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

Automatic generation of the cases derived from algebraic specifications

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Informática e Computação. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 201

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

Theorem Proving for Maude's Rewriting Logic

We present an approach based on inductive theorem proving for verifying invariance properties of systems specified in Rewriting Logic, an executable specification language implemented (among others) in the Maude tool. Since theorem proving is not directly available for rewriting logic, we define an encoding of rewriting logic into its membership equational (sub)logic. Then, inductive theorem provers for membership equational logic, such as the itp tool, can be used for verifying the resulting membership equational logic specification, and, implicitly, for verifying invariance properties of the original rewriting logic specification. The approach is illustrated first on a 2-process Bakery algorithm and then on a parameterised, n-process version of the algorithm

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

An Experiment with Algebraic Specifications of Software Components

A long lasting myth of formal methods is that they are difficult to learn and expensive to apply. This paper reports a controlled experiment to test if this myth is true or false in the context of writing algebraic formal specifications. The experiment shows that writing algebraic specifications for software components can be learnt by ordinary university students. It does not heavily depend on mathematical knowledge and skills. Moreover, it is not time consuming to write algebraic specifications for software components

Architectural Refinement in HETS

The main objective of this work is to bring a number of improvements to the Heterogeneous Tool Set HETS, both from a theoretical and an implementation point of view. In the first part of the thesis we present a number of recent extensions of the tool, among which declarative specifications of logics, generalized theoroidal comorphisms, heterogeneous colimits and integration of the logic of the term rewriting system Maude. In the second part we concentrate on the CASL architectural refinement language, that we equip with a notion of refinement tree and with calculi for checking correctness and consistency of refinements. Soundness and completeness of these calculi is also investigated. Finally, we present the integration of the VSE refinement method in HETS as an institution comorphism. Thus, the proof manangement component of HETS remains unmodified