Events Calendar

CS Seminar: Jonathan Aldrich (Carnegie Mellon) - Gradual Verification: Assuring Software Incrementally

Speaker: Jonathan Aldrich, Carnegie Mellon University

Talk Title: Gradual Verification: Assuring Software Incrementally

Abstract: Current static verification techniques do not provide good support for incrementality, making it difficult for developers to focus on specifying and verifying the properties and components that are most important. Dynamic verification approaches support incrementality, but cannot provide static guarantees. To bridge this gap, we propose gradual verification, which supports incrementality by allowing every assertion to be complete, partial, or omitted, and provides sound verification that smoothly scales from dynamic to static checking. I will describe a system that can verify first order specifications of programs that manipulate recursive, mutable data structures on the heap, demonstrate a prototype tool, and share some initial empirical results. Our approach addresses several technical challenges, such as semantically connecting iso and equi recursive interpretations of abstract predicates, and supporting gradual verification of heap ownership. This work thus lays the foundation for future tools that work on realistic programs and support verification within an engineering process in which cost benefit tradeoffs can be made.


Host: William G. J. Halfond

Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 213

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Melissa Ochoa