Abstract
In order to keep the tasks of specification, programming and verification in manageable orders of magnitude, a system for formM development should support the structuring of the development process. This process starts with a horizontally structured (top-level) specification. While it is generMly agreed that a formal specification has a significant value in itself, it is by no means a guarantee that the development process will end up with an implemented software system, let alone a correct one. A system for formal development must therefore also support the implementation process using a hierarchy of increasingly concrete intermediate specifications. Refinement steps may contain pieces of code of some suitable programmung language. The notion of correctness (of refinement steps) must be complemented by a program logic powerful enough to express the necessary proof obligations and by theorem proving support to actually prove these assertions. In many aspects the techniques of classical theorem proving are not suitable for the deduction tasks that accompany the development process. The approach that has proven successful in this area is Tactical Theorem Proving, where a proof calculus is embedded into a (usually functional) recta-language. Proof search is then implemented by programs in this recta-language. Usually, a sequent calculus or Natural Deduction is used in such systems. The availability of an entire programming language, rather than a mere set of axioms and rules, facilitates the sound extension of the basic logic, and in fact the construction of a complete derived calculus.
Published Version
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