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[~bandali/bndl.org] / mmath.m4
1 dnl -*- html -*-
2 define(__title, `Master of Mathematics')dnl
3 define(__slug, `mmath')dnl
4 include(header.html)dnl
5 define(__latex, `<span class="t-logo">L<sup>a</sup>T<sub>e</sub>X</span>')dnl
6
7 <article>
8 <h1>Master of Mathematics</h1>
9
10 <p class="justify">I graduated from the University of Waterloo with
11 the degree of Master of Mathematics in Computer Science in Spring
12 2020. My research at the <a href="//watform.uwaterloo.ca">Waterloo
13 Formal Methods</a> group focused on formal logic, model checking, and
14 verification; under supervision of
15 <a href="//cs.uwaterloo.ca/~nday/">Dr. Nancy Day</a>.</p>
16
17 <h2>A Comprehensive Study of Declarative Modelling Languages</h2>
18 dnl
19 dnl<p><em>Jump to:</em>
20 dnl<a href="#thesis">thesis</a> |
21 dnl<a href="#presentation">presentation</a> |
22 dnl<a href="#models">models</a></p>
23
24 <h3 id="thesis">Thesis</h3>
25
26 <p>Reference version:
27 <a href="//p.bndl.org/bandali-mmath-thesis.pdf">pdf</a> |
28 <a href="bandali-bib#bandali2020">bib</a><br/>
29 __latex sources:
30 <a href="//p.bndl.org/bandali-mmath-thesis.tar.gz">tar.gz</a> |
31 <a href="//p.bndl.org/bandali-mmath-thesis.zip">zip</a></p>
32
33 <details>
34 <summary>Abstract</summary>
35 <blockquote id="abstract">
36 <p>Declarative behavioural modelling is a powerful modelling paradigm
37 that enables users to model system functionality abstractly and
38 formally. An abstract model is a concise and compact representation
39 of key characteristics of a system, and enables the stakeholders to
40 reason about the correctness of the system in the early stages of
41 development.</p>
42
43 <p>There are many different declarative languages and they have
44 greatly varying constructs for representing a transition system, and
45 they sometimes differ in rather subtle ways. In this thesis, we
46 compare seven formal declarative modelling languages B, Event-B,
47 Alloy, Dash, TLA<sup>+</sup>, PlusCal, and AsmetaL on several
48 criteria. We classify these criteria under three main categories:
49 structuring transition systems (control modelling), data descriptions
50 in transition systems (data modelling), and modularity aspects of
51 modelling. We developed this comparison by completing a set of case
52 studies across the data- vs. control-oriented spectrum in all of the
53 above languages.</p>
54
55 <p>Structurally, a transition system is comprised of a snapshot
56 declaration and snapshot space, initialization, and a transition
57 relation, which is potentially composed of individual transitions. We
58 meticulously outline the differences between the languages with
59 respect to how the modeller would express each of the above components
60 of a transition system in each language, and include discussions
61 regarding stuttering and inconsistencies in the transition relation.
62 Data-related aspects of a formal model include use of basic and
63 composite datatypes, well-formedness and typechecking, and separation
64 of name spaces with respect to global and local variables. Modularity
65 criteria includes subtransition systems and data decomposition. We
66 employ a series of small and concise exemplars we have devised to
67 highlight these differences in each language. To help modellers
68 answer the important question of which declarative modelling language
69 may be most suited for modelling their system, we present
70 recommendations based on our observations about the differentiating
71 characteristics of each of these languages.</p>
72 </blockquote>
73 </details>
74
75 <details open>
76 <summary>License</summary>
77 <pre>
78 This thesis is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
79 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
80 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
81 (at your option) any later version.
82
83 This thesis is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
84 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
85 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
86 GNU General Public License for more details.
87
88 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
89 along with this thesis. If not, see &lt;<a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/">https://www.gnu.org/licenses/</a>&gt;.
90 </pre>
91 </details>
92
93 <p>A copy of the GNU General Public License is available
94 from <a href="gpl-3.0.html">gpl-3.0.html</a>, as well as in
95 the <code>COPYING</code> file included in both of the __latex source
96 archives linked above.</p>
97
98 <h3 id="presentation">Presentation</h3>
99
100 <p>Reference version:
101 pdf (coming soon)<br/>
102 __latex sources:
103 tar.gz | zip (coming soon)</p>
104
105 <p>This is the presentation I delivered to my supervisor and the
106 second readers of my thesis on Jun 30, 2020, as
107 <a href="//cs.uwaterloo.ca/events/masters-thesis-presentation-formal-methods-comprehensive-study-declarative-modelling-languages">announced</a>
108 on the Cheriton School of Computer Science website.</p>
109
110 <h3 id="models">Models</h3>
111
112 <p>Reference version:
113 tar.gz | zip (coming soon)</p>
114 </article>
115
116 define(__copy, `2020')dnl
117 include(footer.html)dnl