Verification conditions for source-level imperative programs

• Autor(a) principal: Frade, M. J.
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Pinto, Jorge Sousa
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/12547
• topic: Hoare logic; Verification conditions; Program verification; Program annotations; Weakest preconditions; Updates; Program verification; Verification conditions; Science & Technology

This paper is a systematic study of verification conditions and their use in the context of program verification. We take Hoare logic as a starting point and study in detail how a verification conditions generator can be obtained from it. The notion of program annotation is essential in this process. Weakest preconditions and the use of updates are also studied as alternative approaches to verification conditions. Our study is carried on in the context of a While language. Important extensions to this language are considered toward the end of the paper. We also briefly survey modern program verification tools and their approaches to the generation of verification conditions.