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