8 - Analyzing e Code

Abstract

In understanding a verification environment's architecture or operation, it becomes difficult to analyze which aspect a particular functionality belongs to or what file in the aspect contains the code. This chapter provides an introduction to e toolkit, which is a script that can be used for e code analysis. Advice and introductions in Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) make it impossible to understand the operation of a verification environment. Adding class members from other files, calling additional code for a method, and replacing a method entirely are the reasons why an e verification environment cannot be understood. AOP and e verification language have bad reputations because people are not used to it. They expect to see a design organized by structure, not by function. They expect to open up a file and see a single class in its entirety. The idea that a single class is now spread across multiple files confuses people. They expect the operation of the code to be the same no matter in what order it is loaded. Another reason is tool support. Although Specman comes with a selection of tools and commands for the analysis of a verification environment, it lacks an easy-to-use solution that lets users fully explore a design. It lacks an integrated development environment that lets users understand the structure of design while editing it.