TY - GEN
T1 - Software evolution by correctness enhancement
AU - Ghardallou, Wided
AU - Diallo, Nafi
AU - Mili, Ali
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Relative correctness is the property of a program to be more-correct than another with respect to a specification; this property enables us to rank candidate programs in a partial ordering structure whose maximal elements are the correct programs. Whereas traditionally we think of program derivation as a process of successive correctness- preserving transformations (using refinement) starting from the specification, we argue that it is possible to derive pro- grams by successive correctness-enhancing transformations (using relative correctness) starting from abort. One of the attributes of our approach is that it captures in the same mathematical model, not only the derivation of programs from scratch, but also most (if not all) of the activities that arise in software evolution. Given that most software is developed nowadays by evolving existing products rather than from scratch, any advance in the technology of pro- gram transformation by correctness enhancement stands to yield significant practical benefits.
AB - Relative correctness is the property of a program to be more-correct than another with respect to a specification; this property enables us to rank candidate programs in a partial ordering structure whose maximal elements are the correct programs. Whereas traditionally we think of program derivation as a process of successive correctness- preserving transformations (using refinement) starting from the specification, we argue that it is possible to derive pro- grams by successive correctness-enhancing transformations (using relative correctness) starting from abort. One of the attributes of our approach is that it captures in the same mathematical model, not only the derivation of programs from scratch, but also most (if not all) of the activities that arise in software evolution. Given that most software is developed nowadays by evolving existing products rather than from scratch, any advance in the technology of pro- gram transformation by correctness enhancement stands to yield significant practical benefits.
KW - Absolute cor-rectness
KW - Adaptive maintenance
KW - Correc-tive maintenance
KW - Program correctness
KW - Relative correctness
KW - Software evolution
KW - Software maintenance
KW - Software merger
KW - Software upgrade
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84988346535&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84988346535&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.18293/SEKE2016-095
DO - 10.18293/SEKE2016-095
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84988346535
T3 - Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, SEKE
SP - 605
EP - 610
BT - Proceedings - SEKE 2016
PB - Knowledge Systems Institute Graduate School
T2 - 28th International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, SEKE 2016
Y2 - 1 July 2016 through 3 July 2016
ER -