Re‐designing tasking structures of Ada programs for analysis: A case study

Abstract

Abstract In previous publications the authors described a compositional (hierarchical) approach to reachability analysis of Ada tasking programs based on process algebra. The abstraction capabilities of process algebra provide an effective means to control state explosion in automated state‐space analysis, but only if a design is carefully modularized to encapsulate details of behaviour. This paper reports experience modifying an existing design (a remote temperature sensor system described by Sanden) to make it more amenable to hierarchical analysis. Redesign for analysis was effective in improving the design in other ways as well: flaws uncovered in the analysis (and present in the original design) were easy to understand and correct because of the increased understandability of the revised design. This also suggests that these flaws might have been avoided, and the design generally improved, had ‘design for analysis’ been applied from the start.