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Elements of style: analyzing a software design feature with a counterexample detector

Authors:

Daniel Jackson,

Craig A. DamonAuthors Info & Claims

ISSTA '96: Proceedings of the 1996 ACM SIGSOFT international symposium on Software testing and analysis

Pages 239 - 249

https://doi.org/10.1145/229000.226322

Published: 01 May 1996 Publication History

Abstract

We illustrate the application of Nitpick, a specification checker, to the design of a style mechanism for a word processor. The design is cast, along with some expected properties, in a subset of Z. Nitpick checks a property by enumerating all possible cases within some finite bounds, displaying as a counterexample the first case for which the property fails to hold. Unlike animation or execution tools, Nitpick does not require state transitions to be expressed constructively, and unlike theorem provers, operates completely automatically without user intervention. Using a variety of reduction mechanisms, it can cover an enormous number of cases in a reasonable time, so that subtle flaws can be rapidly detected.

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Schumi RSun JJust RFraser G(2023)Semantic-Based Neural Network RepairProceedings of the 32nd ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis10.1145/3597926.3598045(150-162)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2023
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Schumi RSun JDwyer MDamian DZeller A(2022)ExAISProceedings of the 44th International Conference on Software Engineering10.1145/3510003.3510112(859-870)Online publication date: 21-May-2022
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Index Terms

Elements of style: analyzing a software design feature with a counterexample detector
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software creation and management
    1. Designing software
      1. Requirements analysis
      2. Software implementation planning
        Software design techniques
    2. Software development process management

Recommendations

Elements of Style: Analyzing a Software Design Feature with a Counterexample Detector
Special issue: best papers of the 1996 international symposium on software testing and analysis ISSTA'96

We demonstrate how Nitpick, a specification checker, can be applied to the design of a style mechanism for a word processor. The design is cast, along with some expected properties, in a subset of Z. Nitpick checks a property by enumerating all possible ...
Elements of style: analyzing a software design feature with a counterexample detector

We illustrate the application of Nitpick, a specification checker, to the design of a style mechanism for a word processor. The design is cast, along with some expected properties, in a subset of Z. Nitpick checks a property by enumerating all possible ...
Hoare-Style Logic for Unstructured Programs
Software Engineering and Formal Methods
Abstract
Enabling Hoare-style reasoning for low-level code is attractive since it opens the way to regain structure and modularity in a domain where structure is essentially absent. The field, however, has not yet arrived at a fully satisfactory solution, ...

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cover image ACM Conferences

ISSTA '96: Proceedings of the 1996 ACM SIGSOFT international symposium on Software testing and analysis

May 1996

294 pages

ISBN:0897917871

DOI:10.1145/229000

Editors:
Steve J. Zeil
Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA
,
Will Tracz
Loral Federal Systems, Owego, NY

ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes Volume 21, Issue 3
May 1996
293 pages
ISSN:0163-5948
DOI:10.1145/226295
Editors:
Steven J. Zeil
Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA
,
Will Tracz
Loral Federal Systems, Owego, NY
Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 1996 ACM.

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Published: 01 May 1996

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ISSTA96: International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis

January 8 - 10, 1996

California, San Diego, USA

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Overall Acceptance Rate 58 of 213 submissions, 27%

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Cited By

Marron MStorm THirschfeld R(2023)Toward Programming Languages for Reasoning: Humans, Symbolic Systems, and AI AgentsProceedings of the 2023 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on New Ideas, New Paradigms, and Reflections on Programming and Software10.1145/3622758.3622895(136-152)Online publication date: 18-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3622758.3622895
Schumi RSun JJust RFraser G(2023)Semantic-Based Neural Network RepairProceedings of the 32nd ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis10.1145/3597926.3598045(150-162)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3597926.3598045
Schumi RSun JDwyer MDamian DZeller A(2022)ExAISProceedings of the 44th International Conference on Software Engineering10.1145/3510003.3510112(859-870)Online publication date: 21-May-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3510003.3510112
Awar NJain KRossbach CGligoric M(2021)Programming and execution models for parallel bounded exhaustive testingProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/34855435:OOPSLA(1-28)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3485543
Schumi RSun J(2021)SpecTest: Specification-Based Compiler TestingFundamental Approaches to Software Engineering10.1007/978-3-030-71500-7_14(269-291)Online publication date: 20-Mar-2021
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71500-7_14
Sundararajan KWoodard D(2018)Deep Learning for BiometricsACM Computing Surveys10.1145/319061851:3(1-34)Online publication date: 23-May-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3190618
Loncaric CErnst MTorlak EChaudron MCrnkovic IChechik MHarman M(2018)Generalized data structure synthesisProceedings of the 40th International Conference on Software Engineering10.1145/3180155.3180211(958-968)Online publication date: 27-May-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3180155.3180211
Churchill BSharma RBastien JAiken A(2017)Sound Loop Superoptimization for Google Native ClientACM SIGARCH Computer Architecture News10.1145/3093337.303775445:1(313-326)Online publication date: 4-Apr-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3093337.3037754
Churchill BSharma RBastien JAiken A(2017)Sound Loop Superoptimization for Google Native ClientACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/3093336.303775452:4(313-326)Online publication date: 4-Apr-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3093336.3037754
Ajay JSong CRathore AZhou CXu W(2017)3DGatesACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/3093336.303775252:4(419-433)Online publication date: 4-Apr-2017
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