MATHEMATICS COLLOQUIUM

 WHEN:
On Thursday, October 18, 2001 at 2.30PM
NOTE THE CHANGE OF DATE!!!

WHERE:
Durham Science Center, Room 255

WHAT:

Victor Winter

Computer Science Department
University of Nebraska at Omaha,

will give a talk on

A Refinement-based Approach to Software Development

Abstract:
Society is becoming increasingly dependent on computer technology to solve a wide variety of its problems. A, perhaps, predictable by-product of such technological infrastructures is the need/demand to increase their dependability. Unfortunately, it is recognized that the software component of such systems routinely falls short of satisfying the dependability attributes required in many of today's systems. This problem is further exasperated by

1. the growing size and complexity of the software systems being developed, and
2. an increase in the level of dependability that is being required in order for a software system to be considered acceptable for its intended use.

Due to the consequences associated with their failure, a growing number of software-based systems can be classified as having high dependability requirements. Developing such software and providing sufficient evidence that it satisfies these dependability requirements is oftentimes a challenging task.

Program transformation is a technique that offers the promise of providing the type of evidence (i.e., high assurance) necessary to certify that the implementation of a software system meets dependability-related requirements. In this talk, I describe refinement-based program transformation as a viable approach to addressing the some of the problems surrounding the development of high assurance software.