Abstract
Ghost variables are assignable variables that appear in program annotations but do not correspond to physical entities. They are used to facilitate specification and verification, e.g., by using a ghost variable to count the number of iterations of a loop, and also to express extra-functional behaviours. In this paper we give a formal model of ghost variables and show how they can be eliminated from specifications and proofs in a compositional and automatic way. Thus, with the results of this paper ghost variables can be seen as a specification pattern rather than a primitive notion.
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Hofmann, M., Pavlova, M. (2008). Elimination of Ghost Variables in Program Logics. In: Barthe, G., Fournet, C. (eds) Trustworthy Global Computing. TGC 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4912. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-78663-4_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-78663-4_1
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