Correctness and Relative Correctness

Nafi Diallo; Wided Ghardallou; Ali Mili

doi:10.1109/ICSE.2015.200

Correctness and Relative Correctness

Nafi Diallo, Wided Ghardallou, Ali Mili

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

In the process of trying to define what is a software fault, we have foundthat to formally define software faults we need to introduce the conceptof relative correctness, i.e. the property of a program to be more-correctthan another with respect to a given specification. A feature of a programis a fault (for a given specification)only because there exists an alternative to it that would makethe program more-correct with respect to the specification.In this paper, we explore applications of the concept of relative correctness in programtesting, program repair, and program design.Specifically, we argue that in many situations of software testing,fault removal and program repair, testing for relative correctnessrather than absolute correctness leads to clearer conclusions andbetter outcomes. Also, we find that designing programs by stepwisecorrectness-enhancing transformations rather than by stepwise correctness-preserving refinements leads to simpler programs and is more tolerant of designer mistakes.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	Proceedings - 2015 IEEE/ACM 37th IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2015
Publisher	IEEE Computer Society
Pages	591-594
Number of pages	4
ISBN (Electronic)	9781479919345
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSE.2015.200
State	Published - Aug 12 2015
Event	37th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2015 - Florence, Italy Duration: May 16 2015 → May 24 2015

Publication series

Name	Proceedings - International Conference on Software Engineering
Volume	2
ISSN (Print)	0270-5257

Other

Other	37th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2015
Country/Territory	Italy
City	Florence
Period	5/16/15 → 5/24/15

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Software

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10.1109/ICSE.2015.200

Cite this

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title = "Correctness and Relative Correctness",

abstract = "In the process of trying to define what is a software fault, we have foundthat to formally define software faults we need to introduce the conceptof relative correctness, i.e. the property of a program to be more-correctthan another with respect to a given specification. A feature of a programis a fault (for a given specification)only because there exists an alternative to it that would makethe program more-correct with respect to the specification.In this paper, we explore applications of the concept of relative correctness in programtesting, program repair, and program design.Specifically, we argue that in many situations of software testing,fault removal and program repair, testing for relative correctnessrather than absolute correctness leads to clearer conclusions andbetter outcomes. Also, we find that designing programs by stepwisecorrectness-enhancing transformations rather than by stepwise correctness-preserving refinements leads to simpler programs and is more tolerant of designer mistakes.",

author = "Nafi Diallo and Wided Ghardallou and Ali Mili",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2015 IEEE.; 37th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2015 ; Conference date: 16-05-2015 Through 24-05-2015",

year = "2015",

month = aug,

day = "12",

doi = "10.1109/ICSE.2015.200",

language = "English (US)",

series = "Proceedings - International Conference on Software Engineering",

publisher = "IEEE Computer Society",

pages = "591--594",

booktitle = "Proceedings - 2015 IEEE/ACM 37th IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2015",

address = "United States",

}

Diallo, N, Ghardallou, W & Mili, A 2015, Correctness and Relative Correctness. in Proceedings - 2015 IEEE/ACM 37th IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2015., 7203020, Proceedings - International Conference on Software Engineering, vol. 2, IEEE Computer Society, pp. 591-594, 37th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2015, Florence, Italy, 5/16/15. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSE.2015.200

Correctness and Relative Correctness. / Diallo, Nafi; Ghardallou, Wided; Mili, Ali.
Proceedings - 2015 IEEE/ACM 37th IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2015. IEEE Computer Society, 2015. p. 591-594 7203020 (Proceedings - International Conference on Software Engineering; Vol. 2).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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AU - Ghardallou, Wided

AU - Mili, Ali

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N2 - In the process of trying to define what is a software fault, we have foundthat to formally define software faults we need to introduce the conceptof relative correctness, i.e. the property of a program to be more-correctthan another with respect to a given specification. A feature of a programis a fault (for a given specification)only because there exists an alternative to it that would makethe program more-correct with respect to the specification.In this paper, we explore applications of the concept of relative correctness in programtesting, program repair, and program design.Specifically, we argue that in many situations of software testing,fault removal and program repair, testing for relative correctnessrather than absolute correctness leads to clearer conclusions andbetter outcomes. Also, we find that designing programs by stepwisecorrectness-enhancing transformations rather than by stepwise correctness-preserving refinements leads to simpler programs and is more tolerant of designer mistakes.

AB - In the process of trying to define what is a software fault, we have foundthat to formally define software faults we need to introduce the conceptof relative correctness, i.e. the property of a program to be more-correctthan another with respect to a given specification. A feature of a programis a fault (for a given specification)only because there exists an alternative to it that would makethe program more-correct with respect to the specification.In this paper, we explore applications of the concept of relative correctness in programtesting, program repair, and program design.Specifically, we argue that in many situations of software testing,fault removal and program repair, testing for relative correctnessrather than absolute correctness leads to clearer conclusions andbetter outcomes. Also, we find that designing programs by stepwisecorrectness-enhancing transformations rather than by stepwise correctness-preserving refinements leads to simpler programs and is more tolerant of designer mistakes.

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Correctness and Relative Correctness

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