If program verification tools are ever to be used widely, it is essential that they work in a modular fashion. Otherwise, verification will not scale. This paper discusses the scientific challenges that this poses for research in program logic. Some recent work on separation logic is described, and test problems that would be useful in measuring advances on modular reasoning are suggested.

In this paper we define a new verification method based on an assertion language able to express properties defined by the user through a logic program. We first apply the verification framework defined in [3] to derive sufficient inductive conditions to prove partial correctness. Then we show how the resulting conditions can be proved using program transformation techniques.

In this paper, we present a case study to demonstrate that the decomposition of a fault-tolerant program into its components is useful in its mechanical verification. More specifically, we discuss our experience in using the theorem prover PVS to verify Dijkstra’s token ring program in a component-based manner. We also demonstrate the advantages of component based mechanical verification.

In this paper, we present a case study to demonstrate that the decomposition of a fault-tolerant program into its components is useful in its mechanical verification. More specifically, we discuss our experience in using the theorem prover PVS to verify Dijkstra’s token ring program in a component-based manner. We also demonstrate the advantages of component based mechanical verification.

Software model checking, as an undecidable problem, has three possible outcomes: (1) the program satisfies the specification, (2) the program does not satisfy the specification, and (3) the model checker fails. The third outcome usually manifests itself in a space-out, time-out, or one component of the verification tool giving up; in all of these failing cases, significant computation is perfor...

Introduction Dosimetric accuracy is a major issue in the quality assurance (QA) program for treatment planning systems (TPS). An important contribution to this process has been a proper dosimetry method to guarantee the accuracy of delivered dose to the tumor. In brachytherapy (BT) of gynecological (Gyn) cancer it is usual to insert a combination of tandem and ovoid applicators with a complicat...

In the long run, programs should be written from the start with verification in mind. Programs written in such a way are likely to be much easier to verify. They will avoid hard-to-verify features, may have better designs, will be accompanied by full formal specifications, and may be annotated with verification information. However, even if programs should be written this way, not all of them w...

Object code is a program of a processor language and can be directly executed on a machine. Program verification constructs a formal proof that a program correctly implements its specification. Verifying object code therefore ensures that the program which is to be executed on a machine is correct. However, the nature of processor languages makes it difficult to specify and reason about object ...

We propose to use deductive program verification systems to generate specifications for given programs and to then use these specifications as input for black-box testing tools. In this way, (1) the black-box testing method can make use of information about the program’s structure that is contained in the specification, and (2) we get a separation of concerns and a clear interface between progr...

Ensuring correctness of software by formal methods is a very relevant and widely studied problem. Automatic verification of software using model checking suffers from the state space explosion problem. Abstraction is emerging as the key candidate for making the model checking problem tractable, and a large body of research exists on abstraction based verification. Many useful abstractions are p...