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International Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science

FSTTCS 1985: Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science pp 369–391Cite as

A proof technique for rely/guarantee properties

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 206))

Abstract

A rely/guarantee specification for a program P is a specification of the form R ⊃ G (R implies G), where R is a rely condition and G is a guarantee condition. A rely condition expresses the conditions that P relies on its environment to provide, and a guarantee condition expresses what P guarantees to provide in return. This paper presents a proof technique that permits us to infer that a program P satisfies a rely/guarantee specification R ⊃ G, given that we know P satisfies a finite collection of rely/guarantee specifications R i ⊃ G i , (i ∈ I). The utility of the proof technique is illustrated by using it to derive global liveness properties of a system of concurrent processes from a collection of local liveness properties satisfied by the component processes. The use of the proof rule as a design principle is also considered.

This research was supported in part by ARO grant DAAG29-84-K-0058, NSF grant DCR-83-02391, and DARPA grant N00014-82-K-0125.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 11794-4400, Stony Brook, New York, USA

    Eugene W. Stark

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  1. Eugene W. Stark
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S. N. Maheshwari

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© 1985 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Stark, E.W. (1985). A proof technique for rely/guarantee properties. In: Maheshwari, S.N. (eds) Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science. FSTTCS 1985. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 206. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-16042-6_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-16042-6_21

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-16042-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-39722-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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