Verified heap theorem prover by paramodulation

Gordon Stewart, Lennart Beringer, Andrew W. Appel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present VeriStar, a verified theorem prover for a decidable subset of separation logic. Together with VeriSmall [3], a proved-sound Smallfoot-style program analysis for C minor, VeriStar demonstrates that fully machine-checked static analyses equipped with efficient theorem provers are now within the reach of formal methods. As a pair, VeriStar and VeriSmall represent the first application of the Verified Software Toolchain [4], a tightly integrated collection of machine-verified program logics and compilers giving foundational correctness guarantees. VeriStar is (1) purely functional, (2) machine-checked, (3) end to- end, (4) efficient and (5) modular. By purely functional, we mean it is implemented in Gallina, the pure functional programming language embedded in the Coq theorem prover. By machine-checked, we mean it has a proof in Coq that when the prover says "valid", the checked entailment holds in a proved-sound separation logic for C minor. By end-to-end, we mean that when the static analysis+theorem prover says a C minor program is safe, the program will be compiled to a semantically equivalent assembly program that runs on real hardware. By efficient, we mean that the prover implements a state-of-the-art algorithm for deciding heap entailments and uses highly tuned verified functional data structures. By modular, we mean that VeriStar can be retrofitted to other static analyses as a plug-compatible entailment checker and its soundness proof can easily be ported to other separation logics.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3-14
Number of pages12
JournalACM SIGPLAN Notices
Volume47
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2012

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Computer Science

Keywords

  • Paramodulation
  • Separation Logic
  • Theorem Proving

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