An Institution for Alloy and Its Translation to Second-Order Logic

Abstract

Lightweight formal methods, of which Alloy is a prime example, combine the rigour of mathematics without compromising simplicity of use and suitable tool support. In some cases, however, the verification of safety or mission critical software entails the need for more sophisticated technologies, typically based on theorem provers. This explains a number of attempts to connect Alloy to specific theorem provers documented in the literature. This paper, however, takes a different perspective: instead of focusing on one more combination of Alloy with still another prover, it lays out the foundations to fully integrate this system in the Hets platform which supports a huge network of logics, logic translators and provers. This makes possible for Alloy specifications to "borrow" the power of several, non dedicated proof systems. The paper extends the authors' previous work on this subject by developing in full detail the semantical foundations for this integration, including a formalisation of Alloy as an institution, and introducing a new, more general translation of the latter to second-order logic.

Asymmetric Combination of Logics is Functorial: A Survey

“…The universal character and resilience of institutions is witnessed by the wide set of logics formalised and subsequently explored within the framework. Examples go from standard classical logics, to more unconventional ones, typically capturing modern specification and programming paradigms -examples include process algebras [23], temporal logics [8], the Alloy language [24], coalgebraic logics [9], functional and imperative languages [29], among many others.…”

Reuse and Integration of Specification Logics: The Hybridisation Perspective

“…More generally, models become hierarchical transition systems. In [44], the authors have also presented the logic underlying Alloy [32] in an institutional setting. This paves the way to hybridising Alloy and combining in the course the use of the traditional Alloy model finder with theorem proving (in Hets) in an integrated way.…”

Paradigm integration in a specification course

“…Moreover, the course skills may be easily expanded into new directions: for instance, functional and imperative programming languages may be presented as institutions (see [11]) whose hybridization may be used to develop reconfigurable algorithms. In [10], the authors have also presented the logic underlying ALLOY [4] in an institutional setting. This paves the way to hybridising AL-LOY and combining in the course the use of the traditional ALLOY model finder with theorem proving (in HETS) in an integrated way.…”