Title :
Reverse engineering concurrent programs using formal modelling and analysis
Author :
Younger, E.J. ; Luo, Z. ; Bennett, K.H. ; Bull, T.M.
Author_Institution :
Centre for Software Maintenance, Durham Univ., UK
Abstract :
We describe a formal based approach to reverse engineering programs with concurrent constructs. This has been a topic which has not previously been addressed, yet is required for safety critical systems and many others. To achieve this we have used a transformation based approach which has been successful in coping with sequential systems. To accommodate concurrency we have extended the core kernel language (WSL) and introduce and then prove new transformations. We then describe preliminary results. The novel aspects of this work are the application of formal program transformations to the maintenance of concurrent software, and the use of modern type theory and type checking/proof tools to extend our existing method and the tool to new domains, namely concurrency and safety critical systems
Keywords :
parallel programming; program verification; reverse engineering; safety-critical software; software maintenance; software tools; type theory; WSL; Wide Spectrum Language; concurrent constructs; concurrent program reverse engineering; concurrent software maintenance; core kernel language; formal analysis; formal based approach; formal modelling; formal program transformations; proof tools; safety critical systems; sequential systems; transformation based approach; type checking; type theory; Parallel programming;
Conference_Titel :
Software Maintenance 1996, Proceedings., International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Monterey, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-8186-7677-9
DOI :
10.1109/ICSM.1996.565014