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Automated Reuse of Scientific Subroutine Libraries through Deductive SynthesisSystematic software construction offers the potential of elevating software engineering from an art-form to an engineering discipline. The desired result is more predictable software development leading to better quality and more maintainable software. However, the overhead costs associated with the formalisms, mathematics, and methods of systematic software construction have largely precluded their adoption in real-world software development. In fact, many mainstream software development organizations, such as Microsoft, still maintain a predominantly oral culture for software development projects; which is far removed from a formalism-based culture for software development. An exception is the limited domain of safety-critical software, where the high-assuiance inherent in systematic software construction justifies the additional cost. We believe that systematic software construction will only be adopted by mainstream software development organization when the overhead costs have been greatly reduced. Two approaches to cost mitigation are reuse (amortizing costs over many applications) and automation. For the last four years, NASA Ames has funded the Amphion project, whose objective is to automate software reuse through techniques from systematic software construction. In particular, deductive program synthesis (i.e., program extraction from proofs) is used to derive a composition of software components (e.g., subroutines) that correctly implements a specification. The construction of reuse libraries of software components is the standard software engineering solution for improving software development productivity and quality.
Document ID
20020043178
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Lowry, Michael R.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA United States)
Pressburger, Thomas
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA United States)
VanBaalen, Jeffrey
(Wyoming Univ. Laramie, WY United States)
Roach, Steven
(Wyoming Univ. Laramie, WY United States)
Date Acquired
August 20, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1997
Subject Category
Computer Programming And Software
Meeting Information
Meeting: Formal Foundation of Software Systems
Location: Rio de Janeiro
Country: Brazil
Start Date: May 5, 1997
End Date: May 9, 1997
Funding Number(s)
PROJECT: RTOP 632-30-34
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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