ebca8b624a8e8ec7143c16ad2b05cc8b59b5b8f9
[~bandali/bndl.org] / mmath / bandali-mmath.txt
1 bandali's master of mathematics
2 -------------------------------
3
4 I graduated from the University of Waterloo with the degree of Master
5 of Mathematics in Computer Science in Spring 2020. My research at the
6 Waterloo Formal Methods group focused on formal logic, model checking,
7 and verification; under supervision of Prof. Nancy Day.
8
9
10 A Comprehensive Study of Declarative Modelling Languages
11
12 THESIS
13
14 Reference version:
15 - https://p.bndl.org/bandali-mmath-thesis.pdf
16 LaTeX sources:
17 - https://p.bndl.org/bandali-mmath-thesis.tar.gz
18 - https://p.bndl.org/bandali-mmath-thesis.zip
19
20 Abstract:
21
22 Declarative behavioural modelling is a powerful modelling paradigm
23 that enables users to model system functionality abstractly and
24 formally. An abstract model is a concise and compact
25 representation of key characteristics of a system, and enables the
26 stakeholders to reason about the correctness of the system in the
27 early stages of development.
28
29 There are many different declarative languages and they have
30 greatly varying constructs for representing a transition system,
31 and they sometimes differ in rather subtle ways. In this thesis,
32 we compare seven formal declarative modelling languages B,
33 Event-B, Alloy, Dash, TLA+, PlusCal, and AsmetaL on several
34 criteria. We classify these criteria under three main categories:
35 structuring transition systems (control modelling), data
36 descriptions in transition systems (data modelling), and
37 modularity aspects of modelling. We developed this comparison by
38 completing a set of case studies across the data-
39 vs. control-oriented spectrum in all of the above languages.
40
41 Structurally, a transition system is comprised of a snapshot
42 declaration and snapshot space, initialization, and a transition
43 relation, which is potentially composed of individual transitions.
44 We meticulously outline the differences between the languages with
45 respect to how the modeller would express each of the above
46 components of a transition system in each language, and include
47 discussions regarding stuttering and inconsistencies in the
48 transition relation. Data-related aspects of a formal model
49 include use of basic and composite datatypes, well-formedness and
50 typechecking, and separation of name spaces with respect to global
51 and local variables. Modularity criteria includes subtransition
52 systems and data decomposition. We employ a series of small and
53 concise exemplars we have devised to highlight these differences
54 in each language. To help modellers answer the important question
55 of which declarative modelling language may be most suited for
56 modelling their system, we present recommendations based on our
57 observations about the differentiating characteristics of each of
58 these languages.
59
60 License:
61
62 This thesis is free software: you can redistribute it and/or
63 modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
64 published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of
65 the License, or (at your option) any later version.
66
67 This thesis is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
68 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
69 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
70 GNU General Public License for more details.
71
72 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
73 along with this thesis. If not, see
74 <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
75
76 A copy of the GNU General Public License is available from the
77 COPYING file included in both of the LaTeX source archives linked
78 above.
79
80 PRESENTATION
81
82 Reference version: (coming soon)
83 LaTeX sources: (coming soon)
84
85 This is the presentation I delivered to my supervisor and the second
86 readers of my thesis on Jun 30, 2020, as announced on the Cheriton
87 School of Computer Science website:
88
89 https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/events/masters-thesis-presentation-formal-methods-comprehensive-study-declarative-modelling-languages
90
91 MODELS
92
93 Reference version: (coming soon)
94
95
96 -*-
97
98 Copyright (c) 2020 bandali
99
100 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
101 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
102 notice and this notice are preserved. This file is offered as-is,
103 without any warranty.
104
105 plain text: https://bndl.org/bandali-mmath.txt