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1 dnl -*- html -*-
2 define(__title, `Master of Mathematics')dnl
3 define(__slug, `mmath')dnl
4 include(header.html)dnl
5
6 <article>
7 <h1>Master of Mathematics</h1>
8
9 <p class="justify">I graduated from the University of Waterloo with
10 the degree of Master of Mathematics in Computer Science in Spring
11 2020. My research at the <a href="//watform.uwaterloo.ca">Waterloo
12 Formal Methods</a> group focused on formal logic, model checking, and
13 verification; under supervision of
14 <a href="//cs.uwaterloo.ca/~nday/">Dr. Nancy Day</a>.</p>
15
16 <h2>A Comprehensive Study of Declarative Modelling Languages</h2>
17 dnl
18 dnl<p><em>Jump to:</em>
19 dnl<a href="#thesis">thesis</a> |
20 dnl<a href="#presentation">presentation</a> |
21 dnl<a href="#models">models</a></p>
22
23 <h3 id="thesis">Thesis</h3>
24
25 <p>Reference version:
26 <a href="//p.bndl.org/bandali-mmath-thesis.pdf">pdf</a> |
27 <a href="bandali-bib#bandali2020">bib</a><br/>
28 __latex sources:
29 <a href="//p.bndl.org/bandali-mmath-thesis.tar.gz">tar.gz</a> |
30 <a href="//p.bndl.org/bandali-mmath-thesis.zip">zip</a></p>
31
32 <details>
33 <summary>Abstract</summary>
34 <blockquote id="abstract">
35 <p>Declarative behavioural modelling is a powerful modelling paradigm
36 that enables users to model system functionality abstractly and
37 formally. An abstract model is a concise and compact representation
38 of key characteristics of a system, and enables the stakeholders to
39 reason about the correctness of the system in the early stages of
40 development.</p>
41
42 <p>There are many different declarative languages and they have
43 greatly varying constructs for representing a transition system, and
44 they sometimes differ in rather subtle ways. In this thesis, we
45 compare seven formal declarative modelling languages B, Event-B,
46 Alloy, Dash, TLA<sup>+</sup>, PlusCal, and AsmetaL on several
47 criteria. We classify these criteria under three main categories:
48 structuring transition systems (control modelling), data descriptions
49 in transition systems (data modelling), and modularity aspects of
50 modelling. We developed this comparison by completing a set of case
51 studies across the data- vs. control-oriented spectrum in all of the
52 above languages.</p>
53
54 <p>Structurally, a transition system is comprised of a snapshot
55 declaration and snapshot space, initialization, and a transition
56 relation, which is potentially composed of individual transitions. We
57 meticulously outline the differences between the languages with
58 respect to how the modeller would express each of the above components
59 of a transition system in each language, and include discussions
60 regarding stuttering and inconsistencies in the transition relation.
61 Data-related aspects of a formal model include use of basic and
62 composite datatypes, well-formedness and typechecking, and separation
63 of name spaces with respect to global and local variables. Modularity
64 criteria includes subtransition systems and data decomposition. We
65 employ a series of small and concise exemplars we have devised to
66 highlight these differences in each language. To help modellers
67 answer the important question of which declarative modelling language
68 may be most suited for modelling their system, we present
69 recommendations based on our observations about the differentiating
70 characteristics of each of these languages.</p>
71 </blockquote>
72 </details>
73
74 <details open>
75 <summary>License</summary>
76 <pre>
77 This thesis is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
78 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
79 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
80 (at your option) any later version.
81
82 This thesis is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
83 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
84 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
85 GNU General Public License for more details.
86
87 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
88 along with this thesis. If not, see &lt;<a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/">https://www.gnu.org/licenses/</a>&gt;.
89 </pre>
90 </details>
91
92 <p>A copy of the GNU General Public License is available
93 from <a href="gpl-3.0.html">gpl-3.0.html</a>, as well as in
94 the <code>COPYING</code> file included in both of the __latex source
95 archives linked above.</p>
96
97 <h3 id="presentation">Presentation</h3>
98
99 <p>Reference version:
100 pdf (coming soon)<br/>
101 __latex sources:
102 tar.gz | zip (coming soon)</p>
103
104 <p>This is the presentation I delivered to my supervisor and the
105 second readers of my thesis on Jun 30, 2020, as
106 <a href="//cs.uwaterloo.ca/events/masters-thesis-presentation-formal-methods-comprehensive-study-declarative-modelling-languages">announced</a>
107 on the Cheriton School of Computer Science website.</p>
108
109 <h3 id="models">Models</h3>
110
111 <p>Reference version:
112 tar.gz | zip (coming soon)</p>
113 </article>
114
115 define(__copy, `2020')dnl
116 include(footer.html)dnl