A considerable amount of work has been done in the field of verifying that computer programs fit their specifications. However, providing correct formal specifications is itself a fairly difficult and tedious task. Typically, people accept informal and incomplete descriptions of programs. These are used for "finding your way around" a large program, perhaps to identify troublesome parts. If formal correctness techniques are used at all, it will only be once suspect areas have been identified informally. This report presents a computer system that compares a LISP program with a description of the program written in a subset of English. The system interprets the English text; compares its interpretation with the code, using techniques concerned with superficial characteristics of the interpretation; investigates its comparison in detail using more formal techniques; and finally produces a documented version of the program, a brief report on how the specifications are implemented, and a database of detailed assertions about how the program and the specifications correspond.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:257286 |
| Date | January 1982 |
| Creators | Ramsay, Allan |
| Publisher | University of Sussex |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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