Design Choices In Specification Languages And Verification Systems

We describe some of the design choices that should be considered in the development and application of specification languages and verification systems. A principal issue is the need to reconcile the desire for expressiveness in the specification language with the ability to provide effective mechanical support. We argue that this reconciliation is assisted by a novel approach to specification language design that requires theorem proving to be used during typechecking. A second key requirement is for the theorem prover to be specialized towards the needs of verification. This means that the theorem prover must assist in the rapid identification of the sources of errors in incorrect theorems as well as in the certification of true theorems, and that it must produce a proof suitable for human review. We argue that a combination of powerful automation (including decision procedures) at the low level, and user-guidance at the high level, provides ihe most efledive approach to these goals.