Advances in Formal Methods – serie

This text provides a comprehensive introduction to OBJ, the most widely used algebraic specification system. As a formal specification language, OBJ makes specifications and designs more precise and easier to read, as well as making maintenance easier and more accurate. OBJ differs from most other specification languages not just in having a formal semantics, but in being executable, either through symbolic execution with term rewriting, or more generally through theorem proving. One problem with specifications is that they are often wrong. OBJ can help validate specifications by executing test cases, and by proving properties. As well as providing a detailed introduction to the language and the OBJ system that implements it, the book provides case studies by leading practitioners in the field, in areas such as computer graphics standards, hardware design, and parallel computation. The case studies demonstrate that OBJ can be used in a wide variety of ways to achieve a wide variety of practical aims in the system development process.The papers on various OBJ systems also demonstrate that the language is relatively easy to understand, implement, and use, and that it supports formal reasoning in a straightforward but powerful way.

This title illustrates how the computer-aided reasoning system ACL2 can be used in productive and innovative ways to design, build, and maintain hardware and software systems. Included here are technical papers written by 21 contributors that report on self-contained case studies, some of which are sanitized industrial projects. The papers deal with a wide variety of ideas, including floating-point arithmetic, microprocessor simulation, model checking, symbolic trajectory evaluation, compilation, proof checking, real analysis, and several others. The book is divided into two parts. Part I begins with a discussion of the effort involved in using ACL2. It also contains a brief introduction to the ACL2 logic and its mechanization, which is intended to give the reader sufficient background to read the case studies. A more thorough, textbook introduction to ACL2 may be found in the companion book, "Computer-Aided Reasoning: An Approach". The heart of the book is Part II, where the case studies are presented. The case studies contain exercises whose solutions are on the Web.In addition, the complete ACL2 scripts necessary to formalize the models and prove all the properties discussed are on the Web.

Object-Z is an object-oriented extension of the formal specification language Z. It adds to Z notions of classes and objects, and inheritance and polymorphism. By extending Z's semantic basis, it enables the specification of systems as collections of independent objects in which self and mutual referencing are possible. This work presents a description of Object-Z including discussions of semantic issues, definitions of all language constructs, type rules and other rules of usage, specification guidelines, and a full concrete syntax.

Software Engineering with OBJ: Algebraic Specification in Action is a comprehensive introduction to OBJ, the most widely used algebraic specification system. As a formal specification language, OBJ makes specifications and designs more precise and easier to read, as well as making maintenance easier and more accurate. OBJ differs from most other specification languages not just in having a formal semantics, but in being executable, either through symbolic execution with term rewriting, or more generally through theorem proving. One problem with specifications is that they are often wrong. OBJ can help validate specifications by executing test cases, and by proving properties. As well as providing a detailed introduction to the language and the OBJ system that implements it, Software Engineering with OBJ: Algebraic Specification in Action provides case studies by leading practitioners in the field, in areas such as computer graphics standards, hardware design, and parallel computation. The case studies demonstrate that OBJ can be used in a wide variety of ways to achieve a wide variety of practical aims in the system development process.The papers on various OBJ systems also demonstrate that the language is relatively easy to understand, implement, and use, and that it supports formal reasoning in a straightforward but powerful way. Software Engineering with OBJ: Algebraic Specification in Action will be of interest to students and teachers in the areas of data types, programming languages, semantics, theorem proving, and algebra, as well as to researchers and practitioners in software engineering.

Computer-Aided Reasoning: ACL2 Case Studies illustrates how the computer-aided reasoning system ACL2 can be used in productive and innovative ways to design, build, and maintain hardware and software systems. Included here are technical papers written by twenty-one contributors that report on self-contained case studies, some of which are sanitized industrial projects. The papers deal with a wide variety of ideas, including floating-point arithmetic, microprocessor simulation, model checking, symbolic trajectory evaluation, compilation, proof checking, real analysis, and several others. Computer-Aided Reasoning: ACL2 Case Studies is meant for two audiences: those looking for innovative ways to design, build, and maintain hardware and software systems faster and more reliably, and those wishing to learn how to do this. The former audience includes project managers and students in survey-oriented courses. The latter audience includes students and professionals pursuing rigorous approaches to hardware and software engineering or formal methods.Computer-Aided Reasoning: ACL2 Case Studies can be used in graduate and upper-division undergraduate courses on Software Engineering, Formal Methods, Hardware Design, Theory of Computation, Artificial Intelligence, and Automated Reasoning. The book is divided into two parts. Part I begins with a discussion of the effort involved in using ACL2. It also contains a brief introduction to the ACL2 logic and its mechanization, which is intended to give the reader sufficient background to read the case studies. A more thorough, textbook introduction to ACL2 may be found in the companion book, Computer-Aided Reasoning: An Approach. The heart of the book is Part II, where the case studies are presented. The case studies contain exercises whose solutions are on the Web. In addition, the complete ACL2 scripts necessary to formalize the models and prove all the properties discussed are on the Web.For example, when we say that one of the case studies formalizes a floating-point multiplier and proves it correct, we mean that not only can you read an English description of the model and how it was proved correct, but you can obtain the entire formal content of the project and replay the proofs, if you wish, with your copy of ACL2. ACL2 may be obtained from its home page. The results reported in each case study, as ACL2 input scripts, as well as exercise solutions for both books, are available from this page.