Several related typed languages for modular programming and data abstraction have been proposed recently, including Pebble, SOL, and ML modules. We review and compare the basic type-theoretic ideas behind these languages and evaluate how they

We present an overview of the program transformation methodology, focusing our attention on the so-called `rules + strategies' approach in the case of functional and logic programs. The paper is intended to offer an introduction to the subject. The various techniques we present are illustrated via simple examples. A preliminary version of this report has been published in: Moller, B., Partsch, H., and Schuman, S. (eds.): Formal Program Development. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 755, Springer Verlag (1993) 263--304. Also published in: ACM Computing Surveys, Vol 28, No. 2, June 1996. 3 1 Introduction The program transformation approach to the development of programs has first been advocated by [Burstall-Darlington 77], although the basic ideas were already presented in previous papers by the same authors [Darlington 72, Burstall-Darlington 75]. In that approach the task of writing a correct and efficient program is realized in two phases: the first phase consists in writing an in...

Object-oriented programming is becoming a popular approach to the construction of complex software systems. Benefits of object orientation include support for modular design, code sharing, and extensibility. In order to make the most of these advantages, a type theory for objects and their interactions should be developed to aid checking and

This thesis describes substantial enhancements that were made to the software tools in the Nuprl system that are used to interactively guide the production of formal proofs. Over 20,000 lines of code were written for these tools. Also, a corpus of formal mathematics was created that consists of roughly 500 definitions and 1300 theorems. Much of this material is of a foundational nature and supports all current work in Nuprl. This thesis concentrates on describing the half of this corpus that is concerned with abstract algebra and that covers topics central to the mathematics of the co...

Program transformation is a means to formally develop efficient programs from lucid specifications. A representative sample of the diverse range of program transformation research is classified into several different approaches based upon the motivations for and styles of constructing such formal developments. Individual techniques for supporting construction of developments are also surveyed, and are related to the various approaches.

This paper presents an overview and a survey of logic program synthesis. Logic program synthesis is interpreted here in a broad way; it is concerned with the following question: given a specification, how do we get a logic program satisfying the specification? Logic programming provides a uniquely nice and uniform framework for program synthesis since the specification, the synthesis process and the resulting program can all be expressed in logic. Three main approaches to logic program synthesis by formal methods are described: constructive synthesis, deductive synthesis and inductive synthesis. Related issues such as correctness and verification as well as synthesis by informal methods are briefly presented. Our presentation is made coherent by employing a unified framework of terminology and notation, and by using the same running example for all the approaches covered. This paper thus intends to provide an assessment of existing work and a framework for future research in logic program synthesis.

Given a sequence of real numbers ("scores"), we present a practical linear time algorithm to find those nonoverlapping, contiguoussubsequenceshaving greatest total scores. This improves on the best previously known algorithm, which requires quadratic time in the worst case. The problem arises in biological sequence analysis, where the highscoring subsequences correspond to regions of unusual composition in a nucleic acid or protein sequence. For instance, Altschul, Karlin, and others have used this approach to identify transmembrane regions, DNA binding domains, and regions of high charge in proteins. Keywords: maximal scoring subsequence, locally optimal subsequence, maximum sum interval, sequence analysis. 1 Introduction When analyzing long nucleic acid or protein sequences, the identification of unusual subsequences is an important task, since such features may be biologically significant. A common approach is to assign a score to each residue, and then look for contig...

This thesis is primarily about the design of formal programming environments for building large software systems. This work articulates two principles and uses them to guide the design, implementation, and study of a specific formal programming environment. First, design methods for large software systems will include multiple languages, methodologies, and refinement techniques that are suited to problem subdomains. This means that any formal system must provide the ability to define multiple logics, and it is by definition a logical framework. Second, the framework must provide the ability to express formal relations between logical theories to address the problem of system decomposition. This thesis also presents the the MetaPRL formal system. MetaPRL was built to provide a modular, abstract logical framework where multiple designs can be expressed and related. The MetaPRL design builds on our experience with logical frameworks and with structured programming concepts like inheritance and re-use to provide an efficient, highly abstract, logical machine. The contribution includes several parts. • The development of an untyped meta-logic using explicit substitution. • The definition of a very-dependent function type in the Nuprl type theory. • A system architecture for generic multi-logical development. • A generic refiner that provides automation and enforcement for the multiple logical theories in logical environment. • A module system for logics and theories. • A generic distributed interactive theorem prover. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Jason Jonathan Hickey was born in 1963 in a small town called Delano in the heart of California’s central San Jaoquin valley. Jason’s early experiences included the fulfillment of various agricultural obligations with

We present a method for proving properties of definite logic programs. This method is called unfold/fold proof method because it is based on the unfold/fold transformation rules...

We propose a novel approach to automating the synthesis of logic programs: Logic programs are synthesized as a by-product of the planning of a verification proof. The approach is a two-level one: At the object level, we prove program verification conjectures in a sorted, first-order theory. The conjectures are of the form 8args \Gamma\Gamma\Gamma\Gamma! : prog(args \Gamma\Gamma\Gamma\Gamma! ) $ spec(args \Gamma\Gamma\Gamma\Gamma! ). At the meta-level, we plan the object-level verification with an unspecified program definition. The definition is represented with a (second-order) meta-level variable, which becomes instantiated in the course of the planning. This technique is an application of the CL A M proof planning system [Bundy et al 90c]. CL A M is currently powerful enough to plan verification proofs for given programs. We show that, if CL A M's use of middle-out reasoning is extended, it will also be able to synthesize programs. 1 Introduction The aim of t...