23rd International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE'01)
A Component-Based Approach to Building Formal Analysis Tools
Toronto, Canada
May 12-May 19
ISBN: 0-7695-1050-7
Abstract: Automatic-verification capability tends to be packaged into stand-alone tools, as opposed to components that are easily integrated into a larger software-development environment. Such packaging complicates integration because it involves translating internal representations into a form compatible with the stand-alone tool. By contrast, lightweight-analysis components package analysis capability in a form that does not involve such a translation. Borrowing ideas from GenVoca and object-oriented design patterns, we developed a domain model and an automatic-generation framework for lightweight-analysis components. The generated components operate directly over the internal form of a specification without requiring a change in representation. Moreover, the domain model identifies several "useful subsets" that can be used to customize analysis capability to a particular application. We validated this domain model by generating lightweight analyzers for temporal logic and the behavioral subset of Lotos.