{"title":"Data type specification: Parameterization and the power of specification techniques","authors":"J. Thatcher, E. Wagner, J. Wright","doi":"10.1145/800133.804340","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This paper extends our earlier work on abstract data types by providing an algebraic treatment of parametrized data types (e.g., sets-of-(), stacks-of-(), etc.), as well as answering a number of questions on the power and limitations of algebraic specification techniques. In brief: we investigate the “hidden function” problem (the need to include operations in specifications which we want to be hidden from the user); we prove that conditional specifications are inherently more powerful than equational specifications; we show that parameterized specifications must contain “side conditions” (e.g., that finite-sets-of-d requires an equality predicate on d), and we compare the power of the algebraic approach taken here with the more categorical approach of Lehman and Smyth.","PeriodicalId":313820,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the tenth annual ACM symposium on Theory of computing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"1978-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"112","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Proceedings of the tenth annual ACM symposium on Theory of computing","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1145/800133.804340","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 112
Abstract
This paper extends our earlier work on abstract data types by providing an algebraic treatment of parametrized data types (e.g., sets-of-(), stacks-of-(), etc.), as well as answering a number of questions on the power and limitations of algebraic specification techniques. In brief: we investigate the “hidden function” problem (the need to include operations in specifications which we want to be hidden from the user); we prove that conditional specifications are inherently more powerful than equational specifications; we show that parameterized specifications must contain “side conditions” (e.g., that finite-sets-of-d requires an equality predicate on d), and we compare the power of the algebraic approach taken here with the more categorical approach of Lehman and Smyth.