Inference Rules for Program Annotation.
Abstract
Methods are presented whereby an ALGOL-like program, given together with its specifications, may be documented automatically. This documentation expresses invariant relationships that hold between program variables at intermediate points in the program, and explains the actual workings of the program regardless of whether the program is correct. Thus this documentation can be used for proving the correctness of the program, or may serve as an aid in the debugging of an incorrect program. The annotation techniques are formulated as Hoare-like inference rules which derive invariants from the assignment statements, from the control structure of the program, or, heuristically, from suggested invariants. The application of these rules is demonstrated by two examples which have run on our implemented system. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1977
- Accession Number
- ADA050806
Entities
People
- Nachum Dershowitz
- Zohar Manna
Organizations
- Stanford University