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Formalizing (Web) Standards

An Application of Test and Proof

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Tests and Proofs (TAP 2018)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 10889))

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Abstract

Most popular technologies are based on informal or semi-formal standards that lack a rigid formal semantics. Typical examples include web technologies such as the DOM or HTML, which are defined by the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). While there might be API specifications and test cases meant to assert the compliance of implementations, the actual standard is rarely accompanied by a formal model that would lend itself for, e. g., verifying the security or safety properties of real systems.

Even when such a formalization of a standard exists, two important questions arise: first, to what extent does the formal model comply with the standard and, second, to what extent does a concrete implementation comply with the formal model and the assumptions made during the verification of certain properties?

In this paper, we present an approach that brings all three involved artifacts—the (semi-)formal standard, the formalization of the standard, and the implementations—closer together by combining verification, symbolic execution, and specification-based testing.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Achim D. Brucker & Michael Herzberg

Authors
  1. Achim D. Brucker
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  2. Michael Herzberg
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Achim D. Brucker .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ENSIIE, Evry, France

    Catherine Dubois

  2. Université Paris-Sud, Gif sur Yvette, France

    Burkhart Wolff

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Brucker, A.D., Herzberg, M. (2018). Formalizing (Web) Standards. In: Dubois, C., Wolff, B. (eds) Tests and Proofs. TAP 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10889. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92994-1_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92994-1_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-92993-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-92994-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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