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  28 <h1><a href="../">bandali</a>'s master of mathematics</h1>
  29
  30 <p>I graduated from the University of Waterloo with the degree of
  31 Master of Mathematics in Computer Science in Spring 2020.
  32 My research at
  33 the <a href="https://watform.uwaterloo.ca">Waterloo Formal Methods</a>
  34 group focused on formal logic, model checking, and verification; under
  35 supervision
  36 of <a href="https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~nday/">Prof. Nancy Day</a>.</p>
  37
  38
  39 <h2>A Comprehensive Study of Declarative Modelling Languages</h2>
  40
  41 <p><em>Jump to:</em>
  42 <a href="#thesis">thesis</a> |
  43 <a href="#presentation">presentation</a> |
  44 <a href="#models">models</a></p>
  45
  46 <h3 id="thesis">Thesis</h3>
  47
  48 <p>Reference version:
  49 <a href="bandali-mmath-thesis.pdf">pdf</a> |
  50 <a href="../bandali.bib">bib</a><br />
  51
  52 <span class="tex">L<sup>a</sup>T<sub>e</sub>X</span> sources:
  53 <a href="bandali-mmath-thesis.tar.gz">tar.gz</a> |
  54 <a href="bandali-mmath-thesis.zip">zip</a></p>
  55
  56 <details class="box">
  57 <summary>Abstract</summary>
  58 <blockquote>
  59 <p>Declarative behavioural modelling is a powerful modelling paradigm
  60 that enables users to model system functionality abstractly and
  61 formally.  An abstract model is a concise and compact representation
  62 of key characteristics of a system, and enables the stakeholders to
  63 reason about the correctness of the system in the early stages of
  64 development.</p>
  65
  66 <p>There are many different declarative languages and they have
  67 greatly varying constructs for representing a transition system, and
  68 they sometimes differ in rather subtle ways.  In this thesis, we
  69 compare seven formal declarative modelling languages B, Event-B,
  70 Alloy, Dash, TLA<sup>+</sup>, PlusCal, and AsmetaL on several
  71 criteria.  We classify these criteria under three main categories:
  72 structuring transition systems (control modelling), data descriptions
  73 in transition systems (data modelling), and modularity aspects of
  74 modelling.  We developed this comparison by completing a set of case
  75 studies across the data- vs. control-oriented spectrum in all of the
  76 above languages.</p>
  77
  78 <p>Structurally, a transition system is comprised of a snapshot
  79 declaration and snapshot space, initialization, and a transition
  80 relation, which is potentially composed of individual transitions.
  81 We meticulously outline the differences between the languages with
  82 respect to how the modeller would express each of the above components
  83 of a transition system in each language, and include discussions
  84 regarding stuttering and inconsistencies in the transition relation.
  85 Data-related aspects of a formal model include use of basic and
  86 composite datatypes, well-formedness and typechecking, and separation
  87 of name spaces with respect to global and local variables.  Modularity
  88 criteria includes subtransition systems and data decomposition.
  89 We employ a series of small and concise exemplars we have devised to
  90 highlight these differences in each language.  To help modellers
  91 answer the important question of which declarative modelling language
  92 may be most suited for modelling their system, we present
  93 recommendations based on our observations about the differentiating
  94 characteristics of each of these languages.</p>
  95 </blockquote>
  96 </details>
  97
  98 <details class="box" open>
  99 <summary>License</summary>
 100 <pre>
 101 This thesis is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 102 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 103 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 104 (at your option) any later version.
 105
 106 This thesis is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 107 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 108 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 109 GNU General Public License for more details.
 110
 111 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 112 along with this thesis.  If not, see &lt;<a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/">https://www.gnu.org/licenses/</a>&gt;.
 113 </pre>
 114 </details>
 115
 116 <p>A copy of the GNU General Public License is available from the
 117 COPYING file included in both of
 118 the <span class="tex">L<sup>a</sup>T<sub>e</sub>X</span> source
 119 archives linked above.</p>
 120
 121 <h3 id="presentation">Presentation</h3>
 122
 123 <p>Reference version:
 124 pdf (coming soon)<br />
 125 <span class="tex">L<sup>a</sup>T<sub>e</sub>X</span> sources:
 126 tar.gz | zip (coming soon)</p>
 127
 128 <p>This is the presentation I delivered to my supervisor and the
 129 second readers of my thesis on Jun 30, 2020, as
 130 <a href="https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/events/masters-thesis-presentation-formal-methods-comprehensive-study-declarative-modelling-languages">announced</a>
 131 on the Cheriton School of Computer Science website.</p>
 132
 133 <h3 id="models">Models</h3>
 134
 135 <p>Reference version:
 136 tar.gz | zip (coming soon)</p>
 137
 138 <hr />
 139 <p id="copy">Copyright &copy; 2020 bandali</p>
 140 <p id="license">Copying and distribution of this file, with or without
 141 modification, are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the
 142 copyright notice and this notice are preserved.  This file is offered
 143 as-is, without any warranty.</p>
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