Abstract
In this chapter, we describe a specification logic called νZ. This is a Z-like formal method in which specifications are theories, not simply definitions. We examine simple applications and discuss some methodological issues that these illustrate. The chapter is introductory, and should be comprehensible to a reader with a knowledge of predicate logic and some familiarity with the ideas of computer system specification.
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Notes
- 1.
There are a few footnotes in this chapter which may be of interest to the Z sophisticate.
- 2.
A reader familiar with Z may be surprised, as this is once again different from Z. The usual lifted-totalisation is not necessary here: there are technical details in [5].
- 3.
A reader with some knowledge of Z will know that this chaotic interpretation also makes an appearance for before states outside the precondition, but only in Z’s theory of refinement. The difference between νZ and Z is not so much whether such before states are interpreted chaotically or not but rather at what point in the mathematical story this occurs. Specifically, it arises before schema operators are interpreted in νZ but after in Z. There are further remarks on this topic at the end of the section.
- 4.
Although we will not be able to illustrate it in this chapter, there is, in νZ, a fourth benefit: one may derive an implementation of the local operation separately from and without any knowledge of the global state.
References
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Henson, M.C. (2010). Applications and Methodology of νZ . In: Boca, P., Bowen, J., Siddiqi, J. (eds) Formal Methods: State of the Art and New Directions. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-736-3_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-736-3_4
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