A Tactic Driven Refinement Tool

Groves, Lindsay; Nickson, Ray; Utting, Mark

doi:10.1007/978-1-4471-3550-0_14

Cited by 17 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The 'apply' command is implemented by a tactic in the program window inference theory. It is possible to write new tactics, perhaps encapsulating a recurring sequence of refinement steps [22]. Since the full power of Prolog is available for writing Ergo tactics, they can perform arbitrarily sophisticated input and output, branching, looping, etc., as well as invoking refinement and proof rules.…”

Section: New Tacticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Grundy [23] also used HOL and window inference for developing a refinement tool, which treated programs as predicates with extensions to model undefinedness and nontermination. Nickson [35,22] developed a refinement editor with a graphical user interface and its own proof system based on rewrite rules. It contained support for refinement tactics as a mechanism for creating more powerful rules.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Tool for Developing Correct Programs by Refinement

Carrington

Hayes

Nickson

et al. 1996

Electronic Workshops in Computing

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The refinement calculus for the development of programs from specifications is well suited to mechanised support. We review the requirements for tool support of refinement as gleaned from our experience with a number of existing refinement tools, and report on the design and implementation of a new tool to support refinement based on these requirements.The main features of the new tool are close integration of refinement and proof in a single tool (the same mechanism is used for both), good management of the refinement context, an extensible theory base that allows the tool to be adapted to new application domains, and a flexible user interface.

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Section: New Tacticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Tool for Developing Correct Programs by Refinement

Carrington

Hayes

Nickson

et al. 1996

Electronic Workshops in Computing

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“…If we notice that a specification we wish to refine has already been refined elsewhere, and we are content to refine it in the same way, we can simply copy the necessary part of the refinement (this may be done, for example, by copying part of a refinement script [9]). Alternatively, if we expect the same refinement to be required many times, we may introduce a derived rule [28] or tactic ( [11], [26]), which can then be invoked by name just as a procedure can. We have already seen that a procedure declaration can be thought of as adding a refinement rule; this reinforces the view that procedures should be somehow regarded as a meta-linguistic device.…”

Section: The Role Of Procedures In Program Refinementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We are considering program refinement in the context of a refinement tool (e.g. [28], [11], [26], [4]). Thus, we view refinement as beginning with a specification and proceeding by the application of refinement rules, which have been shown to be valid.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Procedures in the Refinement Calculus: A New Approach?

Groves

1996

Electronic Workshops in Computing

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We examine the use of procedures in the refinement calculus and show that the traditional approach leads to certain problems when programs are not constructed in a strictly top-down manner. These problems arise because a procedure name becomes associated with the implementation when the procedure body is refined, and we examine some ways in which they may be avoided. We argue that, because procedures are not required in order to express procedural abstractions, the primary purpose of using procedures in program refinement is to do with packaging the final program, and that decisions about how a program is packaged into procedures should be made separately from algorithm design decisions. We present an alternative approach based on this rationale which avoids the aforementioned problems, and discuss ways in which it can be supported by a refinement tool. BCS-FACS 7th Refinement Workshop

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“…He has used it to construct a tool for refinement in a framework where programs are represented by predicates [20]. There are also a few examples of refinement editors, which support program refinement in the same style as we consider in this paper [21,22]. However, these tools generally work on two independent levels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Mechanizing some advanced refinement concepts

Hekanaho

Luostarinen

Långbacka

1993

Form Method Syst Des

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Abstract. We describe how the HOL theorem prover can be used to check and apply rules of program refinement. The rules are formulated in the refinement calculus, which is a theory of correctness preserving program transformations. We embed a general command notation with a predicate transformer semantics in the logic of the HOL system. Using this embedding, we express and prove rules for data refinement and superposition refinement of initialized loops. Applications of these proof rules to actual program refinements are checked using the HOL system, with the HOL system generating these conditions. We also indicate how the HOL system is used to prove the verification conditions. Thus, the HOL system can provide a complete mechanized environment for proving program refinements.

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A Tactic Driven Refinement Tool

Cited by 17 publications

References 14 publications

A Tool for Developing Correct Programs by Refinement

A Tool for Developing Correct Programs by Refinement

Procedures in the Refinement Calculus: A New Approach?

Mechanizing some advanced refinement concepts

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