1. Program Derivation by Correctness Enhacements
- Author
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Nafi Diallo, Wided Ghardallou, Jules Desharnais, and Ali Mili
- Subjects
Mathematics ,QA1-939 ,Electronic computers. Computer science ,QA75.5-76.95 - Abstract
Relative correctness is the property of a program to be more-correct than another program with respect to a given specification. Among the many properties of relative correctness, that which we found most intriguing is the property that program P' refines program P if and only if P' is more-correct than P with respect to any specification. This inspires us to reconsider program derivation by successive refinements: each step of this process mandates that we transform a program P into a program P' that refines P, i.e. P' is more-correct than P with respect to any specification. This raises the question: why should we want to make P' more-correct than P with respect to any specification, when we only have to satisfy specification R? In this paper, we discuss a process of program derivation that replaces traditional sequence of refinement-based correctness-preserving transformations starting from specification R by a sequence of relative correctness-based correctness-enhancing transformations starting from abort.
- Published
- 2016
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