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Program Verification

Fundamental Issues in Computer Science

  • Book
  • © 1993

Overview

Editors:
  1. Timothy R. Colburn

    1. Department of Computer Science, University of Minnesota, Duluth, USA

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  2. James H. Fetzer

    1. Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota, Duluth, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  3. Terry L. Rankin

    1. IBM Health Industry Marketing, Atlanta, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: Studies in Cognitive Systems (COGS, volume 14)

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Table of contents (18 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
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  2. Prologue

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Computer Science and Philosophy

      • Timothy R. Colburn
      Pages 3-31

  3. The Mathematical Paradigm

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 33-33
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    2. Towards a Mathematical Science of Computation

      • J. McCarthy
      Pages 35-56

    3. Proof of Algorithms by General Snapshots

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 57-64

    4. Assigning Meanings to Programs

      • Robert W. Floyd
      Pages 65-81

    5. An Axiomatic Basis for Computer Programming

      • C. A. R. Hoare
      Pages 83-96

  4. Elaborating the Paradigm

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 97-97
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    2. First Steps Towards Inferential Programming

      • William L. Scherlis, Dana S. Scott
      Pages 99-133

    3. Mathematics of Programming

      • C. A. R. Hoare
      Pages 135-154

    4. On Formalism in Specifications

      • Bertrand Meyer
      Pages 155-189

    5. Formalization in Program Development

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 191-210

  5. Challenges, Limits, and Alternatives

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 211-211
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    2. Formalism and Prototyping in the Software Process

      • Bruce I. Blum
      Pages 213-238

    3. Outline of a Paradigm Change in Software Engineering

      • Christiane Floyd
      Pages 239-259

    4. The Place of Strictly Defined Notation in Human Insight

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 261-274

    5. Limits of Correctness in Computers

      • Brian Cantwell Smith
      Pages 275-293

  6. Focus on Formal Verification

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 295-295
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    2. Social Processes and Proofs of Theorems and Programs

      • Richard A. De Millo, Richard J. Lipton, Alan J. Perlis
      Pages 297-319
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Keywords

About this book

Among the most important problems confronting computer science is that of developing a paradigm appropriate to the discipline. Proponents of formal methods - such as John McCarthy, C.A.R. Hoare, and Edgar Dijkstra - have advanced the position that computing is a mathematical activity and that computer science should model itself after mathematics. Opponents of formal methods - by contrast, suggest that programming is the activity which is fundamental to computer science and that there are important differences that distinguish it from mathematics, which therefore cannot provide a suitable paradigm.
Disagreement over the place of formal methods in computer science has recently arisen in the form of renewed interest in the nature and capacity of program verification as a method for establishing the reliability of software systems. A paper that appeared in Communications of the ACM entitled, `Program Verification: The Very Idea', by James H. Fetzer triggered an extended debate that has been discussed in several journals and that has endured for several years, engaging the interest of computer scientists (both theoretical and applied) and of other thinkers from a wide range of backgrounds who want to understand computer science as a domain of inquiry.
The editors of this collection have brought together many of the most interesting and important studies that contribute to answering questions about the nature and the limits of computer science. These include early papers advocating the mathematical paradigm by McCarthy, Naur, R. Floyd, and Hoare (in Part I), others that elaborate the paradigm by Hoare, Meyer, Naur, and Scherlis and Scott (in Part II), challenges, limits and alternatives explored by C. Floyd, Smith, Blum, and Naur (in Part III), and recent work focusing on formal verification by DeMillo, Lipton, and Perlis, Fetzer, Cohn, and Colburn (in Part IV). It provides essential resources for further study.
This volume will appeal to scientists, philosophers, and laypersons who want to understand the theoretical foundations of computer science and be appropriately positioned to evaluate the scope and limits of the discipline.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Computer Science, University of Minnesota, Duluth, USA

    Timothy R. Colburn

  • Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota, Duluth, USA

    James H. Fetzer

  • IBM Health Industry Marketing, Atlanta, USA

    Terry L. Rankin

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