Abstract
A compiler may be specified as a set of theorems, each describing how a construct in the programming language is translated into a sequence of machine instructions. The machine may be specified as an interpreter written in the programming language itself. Using refinement algebra, it can then be verified that interpreting a compiled program is the same or better than executing the original source program. The compiling specification is very similar to a logic program and thus a prototype compiler (and interpreter) may easily be produced in a language such as Prolog. A subset of the occam programming language and the transputer instruction set are used to illustrate the approach. An advantage of the method is that new programming constructs can be added without necessarily affecting existing development work.
Funded by the UK IED safemos project: no. IED3/1/1036, “Demonstration of the Possibility of Totally Verified Systems.”
Funded by the ESPRIT BRA ProCoS project: no. 3104, “Provably Correct Systems.”
On leave from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay, India. Funded by the safemos project.
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References
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Bowen, J., Jifeng, H., Pandya, P. (1990). An approach to verifiable compiling specification and prototyping. In: Deransart, P., Maluszyński, J. (eds) Programming Language Implementation and Logic Programming. PLILP 1990. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 456. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0024175
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0024175
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