This paper describes the Tatami project at UCSD, which is developing a system to support distributed cooperative software development over the web, and in particular, the validation of concurrent distributed software. The main components of our current prototype are a proof assistant, a generator for documentation websites, a database, an equational proof engine, and a communication protocol to support distributed cooperative work. We believe behavioral specification and verification are important for software development, and for this purpose we use first order hidden logic with equational atoms. The paper also briefly describes some novel user interface design methods that have been developed and applied in the project

recent advances in web technology, interface design, and specification. Our effort to improve the usability of such systems has led us into algebraic semiotics, while our effort to develop better formal methods for distributed concurrent systems has led us into hidden algebra and fuzzy logic. This paper discusses the Tatami system design, especially its software architecture, and its user interface principles. New work in the latter area includes an extension of algebraic semiotics to dynamic multimedia interfaces, and integrating Gibsonian affordances with algebraic semiotics. 1

We show that for any behavioral Sigma-specification B there is an ordinary algebraic specification ~ B over a larger signature, such that a model behaviorally satisfies B if and only if it satisfies ~ B, where is the information hiding operator exporting only the Sigma-theorems of ~ B. The idea is to add machinery for contexts and experiments (sorts, operations and equations), use it, and then hide it. We develop a procedure, called unhiding, that takes a finite B and produces a finite ~ B. The practical aspect of this procedure is that one can use any standard equational or inductive theorem prover to derive behavioral theorems, even if neither equational reasoning nor induction is sound for behavioral satisfaction.