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An operational semantics for Stateflow

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Abstract

We present a formal operational semantics for Stateflow, the graphical Statecharts-like language of the Matlab/Simulink tool suite that is widely used in model-based development of embedded systems. Stateflow has many tricky features but our operational treatment yields a surprisingly simple semantics for the subset that is generally recommended for industrial applications. We have validated our semantics by developing an interpreter that allows us to compare its behavior against the Matlab simulator. We have used the semantics as a foundation for developing prototype tools for formal analysis of Stateflow designs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA

    Grégoire Hamon & John Rushby

  2. Computer Science Laboratory, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, USA

    Grégoire Hamon & John Rushby

Authors
  1. Grégoire Hamon
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  2. John Rushby
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Grégoire Hamon.

Additional information

This material is based on work performed at SRI and supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CCR-0086096 through the University of Illinois and by NASA Langley Research Center under Contract NAS1-00079.

This work was performerd while the author was at SRI International, Menlo Park CA, USA, and at Chalmers Institute of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden.

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Hamon, G., Rushby, J. An operational semantics for Stateflow. Int J Softw Tools Technol Transf 9, 447–456 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10009-007-0049-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10009-007-0049-7

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