1. Kleene under a modal demonic star
- Author
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Bernhard Möller, Jules Desharnais, and Fairouz Tchier
- Subjects
Semantics (computer science) ,Logic ,Kleene's recursion theorem ,0102 computer and information sciences ,01 natural sciences ,Theoretical Computer Science ,Kleene algebra ,While loop ,Computer Science::Logic in Computer Science ,Kleene star ,0101 mathematics ,Rule ,Mathematics ,Discrete mathematics ,010102 general mathematics ,Verification ,Demonic semantics ,Nondeterministic algorithm ,Algebra ,TheoryofComputation_MATHEMATICALLOGICANDFORMALLANGUAGES ,Computational Theory and Mathematics ,010201 computation theory & mathematics ,TheoryofComputation_LOGICSANDMEANINGSOFPROGRAMS ,Postcondition ,Computer Science::Programming Languages ,Kripke semantics ,ddc:004 ,Relational abstraction ,Generalisation ,Computer Science::Formal Languages and Automata Theory ,Software - Abstract
In relational semantics, the input-output semantics of a program is a relation on its set of states. We generalise this in considering elements of Kleene algebras as semantical values. In a nondeterministic context, the demonic semantics is calculated by considering the worst behaviour of the program. In this paper, we concentrate on while loops. Calculating the semantics of a loop is difficult, but showing the correctness of any candidate abstraction is much easier. For deterministic programs, Mills has described a checking method known as the while statement verification rule. A corresponding programming theorem for nondeterministic iterative constructs is proposed, proved and applied to an example. This theorem can be considered as a generalisation of the while statement verification rule to nondeterministic loops. The paper generalises earlier relation-algebraic work to the setting of modal Kleene algebra, an extension of Kozen’s Kleene algebra with tests that allows the internalisation of weakest liberal precondition and strongest liberal postcondition operators.
- Published
- 2006
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