Specifying Systems: The TLA+ Language and Tools for Hardware and Software Engineers - Softcover

Lamport, Leslie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 032114306X ISBN 13: 9780321143068

Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional, 2002

Synopsis

This work shows how to write unambiguous specifications of complex computer systems. The first part provides a concise and lucid introduction to specification, explaining how to describe, with mathematical precision, the behavioural properties of a system - what that system is allowed to do. The emphasis here is on safety properties. The second part covers more advanced topics, including liveness and fairness, real time properties, and composition. The books final two parts provide a complete reference manual for the TLA+ language and tools, as well as a mini-manual.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"TLA+ represents the only effective methodology I've seen for visualizing and quantifying algorithmic complexity in a way that is meaningful to engineers."
--Brannon Batson, Processor Architect, Intel Corporation

This long-awaited book shows how to write unambiguous specifications of complex computer systems.

The first part provides a concise and lucid introduction to specification, explaining how to describe, with mathematical precision, the behavioral properties of a system--what that system is allowed to do. The emphasis here is on safety properties.

The second part of the book covers more advanced topics, including liveness and fairness, real-time properties, and composition.

The book's final two parts provide a complete reference manual for the TLA+ language and tools, as well as a handy mini-manual. TLA+ is the language developed by the author for writing simple and elegant specifications of algorithms and protocols and for verifying the correctness of a design. The language already has proved to be a valuable aid in understanding and building concurrent and distributed systems. Tools for TLA+ syntax analysis and model checking are freely available from the Web, where you can also find supplemental materials for this book, including exercises.

032114306XB06262002

About the Author:

Leslie Lamport, a computer scientist, is well known for his contributions to concurrent computing and distributed systems. His "Time, Clocks, and the Ordering of Events in a Distributed System" paper has been honored for its enduring influence on the field. Lamport is also known for creating the LaTeX typesetting system and the best-selling book, LaTeX, Second Edition, which documents it (Addison-Wesley, 1994). Now at Microsoft Research in Mountain View, California, he began his work on TLA+ at the Digital (later Compaq) Systems Research Center in Palo Alto. Lamport, who earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Brandeis University, is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

032114306XAB06262002

About this edition

• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 032114306X
• ISBN 13: 9780321143068
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384