Abstract
The privileged field of classical algebra and term rewriting systems is that of strictly deterministic systems: the confluence property is generaly assumed to hold, which ensures determinism about the result of the computations, even if there exist several different computation paths. In this paper, we develop a new formalism introducing a bounded nondeterministic choice operator ‘↑’ into algebraic specifications and related term rewriting systems; nondeterminism about the result becomes allowed in this framework. We define the algebraic and the operational aspects of such systems, and investigate their relationship. Methods à la Knuth-Bendix are developed for automatic theorem proving in such theories. Several examples are considered, including a toy concurrent language, for which non-trivial properties may be automatically proved.
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Kaplan, S. (1986). Rewriting with a nondeterministic choice operator : From algebra to proofs. In: Robinet, B., Wilhelm, R. (eds) ESOP 86. ESOP 1986. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 213. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-16442-1_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-16442-1_27
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