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Program Refinement by Theorem Prover

  • Conference paper
6th Refinement Workshop

Part of the book series: Workshops in Computing ((WORKSHOPS COMP.))

Abstract

We describe a prototype tool for developing programs by stepwise refinement in a weakest precondition framework, based on the HOL theorem proving system. Our work is based on a mechanisation of the refinement calculus, which is a theory of correctness preserving program transformations. We also use a tool for window inference that is part of the HOL system. Our tool permits subcomponents of a program to be refined separately, and the tool keeps track of the overall effects of each individual refinement. In particular, we show how specifications can be refined into code and how data refinements (i.e., replacing an abstract data structure with one that is more concrete) can be handled. All refinements are proved as theorems in the HOL logic, so our system is in fact a secure environment for program development.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

    J. von Wright

Authors
  1. J. von Wright
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, City University, Northampton Square, EC1V 0HB, London, UK

    David Till MA (Oxon), MSc

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© 1994 British Computer Society

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von Wright, J. (1994). Program Refinement by Theorem Prover. In: Till, D. (eds) 6th Refinement Workshop. Workshops in Computing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3240-0_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3240-0_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-19886-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-3240-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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