Towards a Mechanisation of a Logic that Copes with Partial Terms

It has been pointed out by a number of authors that partial terms (i.e. terms that can fail to denote a value) arise frequently in the specification and development of programs. Furthermore, earlier papers describe and argue for the use of a nonclassical logic (the "Logic of Partial Functions") to facilitate sound and convenient reasoning about such terms. This paper addresses some of the issues that arise in trying to provide (semi-)decision procedures -such as resolutionfor such a logic. Particular care is needed with the use of "proof by refutation". The paper is grounded on a semantic model. © 2012 Newcastle University. Printed and published by Newcastle University, Computing Science, Claremont Tower, Claremont Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, England. Bibliographical details JONES, C.B., LOVERT, M.J., STEGGLES, L.J. Towards a Mechanisation of a Logic that Copes with Partial Terms [By] C.B. Jones, M.J. Lovert, L.J. Steggles Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle University: Computing Science, 2012. (Newcastle University, Computing Science, Technical Report Series, No. CS-TR-1314)