Event-B Patterns and Their Tool Support

Abstract

Event-B has given developers the opportunity to construct models of complex systems which are correct by construction. However, there is no systematic approach, especially in terms of reusing, which could help with the construction of these models. We introduce the notion of design patterns within the framework of Event-B to shorten this gap. Our approach preserves the correctness of the models which is critical in formal methods and also reduces the proving effort. Within our approach, an Event-B design pattern is just another model devoted to the formalisation of a typical sub-problem. As a result, we can use patterns to construct a model which can subsequently be used as a pattern to construct a larger model. We also present the interaction between developers and the future tool support within the associated Rodin Platform of Event-B. The approach has been applied successfully in some medium-size industrial case studies.