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Toward formal development of programs from algebraic specifications: Parameterisation revisited

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Abstract

Parameterisation is an important mechanism for structuring programs and specifications into modular units. The interplay between parameterisation (of programs and of specifications) and specification (of parameterised and of non-parameterised programs) is analysed, exposing important semantic and methodological differences between specifications of parameterised programs and parameterised specifications. The extension of parameterisation mechanisms to the higher-order case is considered, both for parameterised programs and parameterised specifications, and the methodological consequences of such an extension are explored.

A specification formalism with parameterisation of an arbitrary order is presented. Its denotational-style semantics is accompanied by an inference system for proving that an object satisfies a specification. The formalism includes the basic specification-building operations of the ASL specification language and is institution independent.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, The Kings Building, Mayfield Road, EH9 3JZ, Edinburgh, UK

    Donald Sannella

  2. Institute of Computer Science, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Jaśkowa Dolina 31, PL-80-252, Gdańsk, Poland

    Stefan Sokolowski

  3. Institute of Computer Science, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Ordona 21, PL-01-237, Warsaw, Poland

    Andrzej Tarlecki

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  1. Donald Sannella
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  2. Stefan Sokolowski
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  3. Andrzej Tarlecki
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Sannella, D., Sokolowski, S. & Tarlecki, A. Toward formal development of programs from algebraic specifications: Parameterisation revisited. Acta Informatica 29, 689–736 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01191893

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