Automated specification analysis using an interactive theorem prover

Abstract

Abstract—A method for analyzing designs and their specifications is presented. The method makes essential use of an interactive theorem prover, but is fully automatic. Given a design and a specification, the method returns one of three possible answers. It can report that the design does not satisfy the specification, in which case a concrete counterexample is provided. It can report that the design does satisfy the specification, in which case a formal proof to that effect is provided. If neither of these cases hold, then a summary of the analysis is reported. We have implemented and experimentally validated the method in ACL2s, the ACL2 Sedan. I.