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International Conference on Software Engineering and Formal Methods

SEFM 2012: Software Engineering and Formal Methods pp 94–108Cite as

Compositional Reasoning about Shared Futures

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 7504))

Abstract

Distributed and concurrent object-oriented systems are difficult to analyze due to the complexity of their concurrency, communication, and synchronization mechanisms. The future mechanism extends the traditional method call communication model by facilitating sharing of references to futures. By assigning method call result values to futures, third party objects may pick up these values. This may reduce the time spent waiting for replies in a distributed environment. However, futures add a level of complexity to program analysis, as the program semantics becomes more involved.

This paper presents a model for asynchronously communicating objects, where return values from method calls are handled by futures. The model facilitates invariant specifications over the locally visible communication history of each object. Compositional reasoning is supported, as each object may be specified and verified independently of its environment. A kernel object-oriented language with futures inspired by the ABS modeling language is considered. A compositional proof system for this language is presented, formulated within dynamic logic.

Supported by the EU project FP7-231620 HATS: Highly Adaptable and Trustworthy Software using Formal Models (http://www.hats-project.eu) and COST Action IC0701.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway

    Crystal Chang Din, Johan Dovland & Olaf Owe

Authors
  1. Crystal Chang Din
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  2. Johan Dovland
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  3. Olaf Owe
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Internal Faculty, CITY College, Computer Science Department, The University of Sheffield, 3 Leontos Sofou St., 546 26, Thessaloniki, Greece

    George Eleftherakis

  2. Lero - the Irish Software Engineering Research Centre, University of Limerick, T2-013, Limerick, Ireland

    Mike Hinchey

  3. Department of Computer Science, Regent Court, 211 Portobello, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S1 4DP, UK

    Mike Holcombe

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Din, C.C., Dovland, J., Owe, O. (2012). Compositional Reasoning about Shared Futures. In: Eleftherakis, G., Hinchey, M., Holcombe, M. (eds) Software Engineering and Formal Methods. SEFM 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7504. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33826-7_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33826-7_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-33825-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-33826-7

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