This thesis investigates the properties of generic refinements of behavioral specifications. At the base of this investigation stands the view from algebraic specification that abstract data types can be modeled as algebras. A specification of a data type is formed from a syntactic part, i.e. a signature detailing the interface of the data type, and a semantic part, i.e. a class of algebras (called its models) that contains the valid implementations of that data type. Typically, the class of algebras that constitutes the semantics of a specification is defined as the class of algebras that satisfy some given set of axioms. The behavioral aspect of a specification comes from relaxing the requirements imposed by axioms, i.e. by allowing in the semantics of a specification not only the algebras that literally satisfy the given axioms, but also those algebras that appear to behave according to those axioms. Several frameworks have been developed to express the adequate notions of what it means to be a behavioral model of a set of axioms, and our choice as the setting for this thesis will be Bidoit and Hennicker’s Constructor-based Observational Logic, abbreviated COL. Using specifications that rely on the behavioral aspects defined by COL we study the properties of generic refinements between specifications. Refinement is a relation between specifications. The refinement of a target specification by a source specification is given by a function that constructs models of the target specification from the models of the source specification. These functions are called constructions and the source and target specifications that they relate are called the context of the refinement. The theory of refinements between algebraic specifications, with or without the behavioral aspect, has been well studied in the literature. Our analysis starts from those studies and adapts them to COL, which is a relatively new framework, and for which refinement has been studied only briefly. The main part of this thesis is formed by the analysis of generic refinements. Generic refinements are represented by constructions that can be used in various contexts, not just in the context of their definition. These constructions provide the basis for modular refinements, i.e. one can use a locally defined construction in a global context in order to refine just a part of a source specification. The ability to use a refinement outside its original context imposes additional requirements on the construction that represents it. An implementer writing such a construction must not use details of the source models that can be contradicted by potential global context requirements. This means, roughly speaking, that he must use only the information available in the source signature and also any a priori assumption that was made about the contexts of use. We look at the basic case of generic refinements that are reusable in every global context, and then we treat a couple of variations, i.e. generic refinements for which an a priori assumption it is made about the nature of their usage contexts. In each of these cases we follow the same pattern of investigation. First we characterize the constructions that ensure reusability by means of preservation of relations, and then, in most cases, we show that such constructions must be definable in terms of their source signature. Throughout the thesis we use an informal analogy between generic (i.e. polymorphic) functions that appear in second order lambda calculus and the generic refinements that we are studying. This connection will enable us to describe some properties of generic refinements that correspond to the properties of polymorphic functions inferred from their types and named “theorems for free” by Wadler. The definability results, the connection between the assumptions made about the usage contexts and the characterizing relations, and the “theorems for free” for behavioral specifications constitute the main contributions of this thesis.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:563339 |
Date | January 2011 |
Creators | Petria, Marius |
Contributors | Sannella, Don |
Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
Source Sets | Ethos UK |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/4889 |
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