Assertion based Inductive Verification Methods for Logic Programs

This paper is an overview of our results on the application of abstract interpretation concepts to the derivation of a verification method for logic programs. These include the systematic design of semantics modeling various proof methods and the characterization of assertions as abstract domains. We first apply the verification framework defined in [5] to derive inductive sufficient conditions for partial correctness. Then the domain of assertions is formalized as an abstract domain. We can therefore derive an assertion based verification method. We finally show two methods based on different assertion languages: a decidable assertion language and Horn clause logic used as assertion language.