Finding Loop Invariants for Programs over Arrays Using a Theorem Prover

Abstract

Invariants with quantifiers are important for verification and static analysis of programsover arrays due to the unbounded nature of arrays. Such invariants can expressrelationships among array elements and properties involving array and scalar variablesof the loop.This talk presents how quantified loop invariants of programs over arrayscan be automatically inferred using a first order theorem prover,reducing the burden of annotating loops with complete invariants.Unlike all previously known methods, our method is ableto generate loop invariants containing quantifier alternations