Towards Practical Graph-Based Verification for an Object-Oriented Concurrency Model

Heußner, Alexander; Poskitt, Christopher M.; Corrodi, Claudio; Morandi, Benjamin

doi:10.4204/eptcs.181.3

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(51 reference statements)

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“…There are several established and contrasting semantics of Scoop [6,18,26,29,40] including a comprehensive reference semantics for RQ in Maude's conditional rewriting logic [26], and a semantics for the core of QoQ in the form of simple structural operational rules [40]. These formalisations, however, cannot easily be used for semantic comparisons, due to their varying levels of detail, coverage, extensibility, and tool support.…”

Section: A Graph-based Semantic Model For the Scoop Familymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We demonstrate its use by formalising the two principal execution models of Scoop, analysing a representative set of programs with respect to both, and highlighting some behavioural and deadlock-related discrepancies that the workbench uncovers automatically. Our workbench is based on a modular and parameterisable graph transformation system (Gts) semantics, built upon our preliminary modelling ideas in [18], and implemented in the generalpurpose Gts analysis tool Groove [16]. We leverage this powerful formalism to atomically model complex programmer-level abstractions, and show how its…”

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confidence: 99%

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A Graph-Based Semantics Workbench for Concurrent Asynchronous Programs

Corrodi¹,

Heubner²,

Poskitt³

2016

Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering

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Abstract. A number of novel programming languages and libraries have been proposed that offer simpler-to-use models of concurrency than threads. It is challenging, however, to devise execution models that successfully realise their abstractions without forfeiting performance or introducing unintended behaviours. This is exemplified by Scoop-a concurrent object-oriented message-passing language-which has seen multiple semantics proposed and implemented over its evolution. We propose a "semantics workbench" with fully and semi-automatic tools for Scoop, that can be used to analyse and compare programs with respect to different execution models. We demonstrate its use in checking the consistency of semantics by applying it to a set of representative programs, and highlighting a deadlock-related discrepancy between the principal execution models of the language. Our workbench is based on a modular and parameterisable graph transformation semantics implemented in the Groove tool. We discuss how graph transformations are leveraged to atomically model intricate language abstractions, and how the visual yet algebraic nature of the model can be used to ascertain soundness.

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Section: A Graph-based Semantic Model For the Scoop Familymentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Graph-Based Semantics Workbench for Concurrent Asynchronous Programs

Corrodi¹,

Heubner²,

Poskitt³

2016

Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering

Self Cite

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“…In [40] SCOOP programs are verified for deadlocks and other behavioral properties using GROOVE [41]. The work in [40] proposes a redefinition of the most common features of the SCOOP semantics based on graph transformation systems (GPSs).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, q n }. Hence, assuming a predefined system configuration deadlock , the SCOOP transition rule in Maude corresponding to (40) can be written as:…”

Section: Formalizing Deadlocks In Scoopmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the verification of SCOOP programs

Caltais

Meyer

2017

Science of Computer Programming

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In this paper we focus on the development of a toolbox for the verification of programs in the context of SCOOP -an elegant concurrency model, recently formalized based on Rewriting Logic (RL) and Maude. SCOOP is implemented in Eiffel and its applicability is demonstrated also from a practical perspective, in the area of robotics programming. Our contribution consists in devising and integrating an alias analyzer and a Coffman deadlock detector under the roof of the same RL-based semantic framework of SCOOP. This enables using the Maude rewriting engine and its LTL model-checker "for free", in order to perform the analyses of interest. We discuss the limitations of our approach for model-checking deadlocks and provide solutions to the state explosion problem. The latter is mainly caused by the size of the SCOOP formalization which incorporates all the aspects of a real concurrency model. On the aliasing side, we propose an extension of a previously introduced alias calculus based on program expressions, to the setting of unbounded program executions such as infinite loops and recursive calls. Moreover, we devise a corresponding executable specification easily implementable on top of the SCOOP formalization. An important property of our extension is that, in non-concurrent settings, the corresponding alias expressions can be over-approximated in terms of a notion of regular expressions. This further enables us to derive an algorithm that always stops and provides a sound over-approximation of the "may aliasing" information, where soundness stands for the lack of false negatives.

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“…We discuss how the visual yet algebraic nature of our Gts models can be used to ascertain soundness, and highlight how our approach could be applied to similar concurrent, asynchronous, distributed languages. This is a revised and extended version of our FASE 2016 paper, "A Graph-Based Semantics Workbench for Concurrent Asynchronous Programs" [CHP16] (itself based upon the preliminary modelling ideas in [HPCM15]), adding the following new content: (i) a new Gts semantics covering the distributed programming abstractions of D-Scoop, formalised orthogonally to the others by extending an existing semantics and not just replacing the components of one; (ii) a presentation of the underlying, compositional metamodel to which the family of Scoop and D-Scoop semantics all conform, including a discussion of the metamodel's genericity; (iii) an expanded evaluation that additionally explores the state spaces of our benchmarks in fully distributed contexts; and (iv) a significantly revised presentation, including new details, explanations, and examples throughout the paper.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A semantics comparison workbench for a concurrent, asynchronous, distributed programming language

2018

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Abstract. A number of high-level languages and libraries have been proposed that offer novel and simple to use abstractions for concurrent, asynchronous, and distributed programming. The execution models that realise them, however, often change over time-whether to improve performance, or to extend them to new language features-potentially affecting behavioural and safety properties of existing programs. This is exemplified by Scoop, a message-passing approach to concurrent object-oriented programming that has seen multiple changes proposed and implemented, with demonstrable consequences for an idiomatic usage of its core abstraction. We propose a semantics comparison workbench for Scoop with fully and semiautomatic tools for analysing and comparing the state spaces of programs with respect to different execution models or semantics. We demonstrate its use in checking the consistency of properties across semantics by applying it to a set of representative programs, and highlighting a deadlock-related discrepancy between the principal execution models of Scoop. Furthermore, we demonstrate the extensibility of the workbench by generalising the formalisation of an execution model to support recently proposed extensions for distributed programming. Our workbench is based on a modular and parameterisable graph transformation semantics implemented in the Groove tool. We discuss how graph transformations are leveraged to atomically model intricate language abstractions, how the visual yet algebraic nature of the model can be used to ascertain soundness, and highlight how the approach could be applied to similar languages.

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Towards Practical Graph-Based Verification for an Object-Oriented Concurrency Model

Cited by 6 publications

References 25 publications

A Graph-Based Semantics Workbench for Concurrent Asynchronous Programs

A Graph-Based Semantics Workbench for Concurrent Asynchronous Programs

On the verification of SCOOP programs

A semantics comparison workbench for a concurrent, asynchronous, distributed programming language

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