Synopsis
This book can mark the coming of age of automated theorem proving (ATP). The process to maturity has been a continuum, as it is for humans, but this book serves to mark the emergence of ATP into the marketplace. For this book is arguably the first to present for the general computer scientist or mathematician in some technical depth the ability of automated theorem provers to function in the realm where they will earn their living. That realm is as the reasoning engines of verifiers and generators of computer programs, hardware and related products. (We do note some excellent edited collections exist; one of the best is by Bibel and Schmitt, 1998: see this book's bibliogra phy. ) As we note below, this book does not simply document a brilliant but isolated undertaking. Rather, the book makes clear that a small but steady, and increasing, stream of real-world applications is now appearing. The childhood and adolescence of ATP was both prolonged and spiked with brilliance. The birth year of the field should probably be set as 1956, when the Logic Theorist paper was published by Newell, Shaw and Simon. (However, most likely the first computer generated mathematical proof ap peared in 1954 as output of a program for Pressburger arithmetic, written by Martin Davis. The work was not published at the time.
From the Back Cover
The growing demand for high quality, safety, and security of software systems can only be met by rigorous application of formal methods during software design. Tools for formal methods in general, however, do not provide a sufficient level of automatic processing. This book methodically investigates the potential of first-order logic automated theorem provers for applications in software engineering.
Illustrated by complete case studies on verification of communication and security protocols and logic-based component reuse, the book characterizes proof tasks to allow an assessment of the provers capabilities. Necessary techniques and extensions, e.g., for handling inductive and modal proof tasks, or for controlling the prover, are covered in detail.
The book demonstrates that state-of-the-art automated theorem provers are capable of automatically handling important tasks during the development of high-quality software and it provides many helpful techniques for increasing practical usability of the automated theorem prover for successful applications.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
