Similarities and Reuse of Proofs in Formal Software Veriication Similarities and Reuse of Proofs in Formal Software Veriication

The amount of user interaction is a prime cost factor in interactive program veriication. This paper analyzes situations in which the reuse of previous proofs can help reducing these costs. In particular , it describes a technique that reuses subproofs in the veriication of invariants of state transition systems. This technique replays decisions of generalized previous proof attempts from the same overall veriication process. As opposed to CBR applications that are justiied by the fact that no or insuucient domain knowledge is available to solve a problem from rst principles or by saving a huge search eeort, our technique aims at saving user interaction. Several case studies provide rst proofs of sig-niicant savings of user interaction in veriication proofs by employing our CBR technique. Abstract. The amount of user interaction is a prime cost factor in interactive program veriication. This paper analyzes situations in which the reuse of previous proofs can help reducing these costs. In particular , it describes a technique that reuses subproofs in the veriication of invariants of state transition systems. This technique replays decisions of generalized previous proof attempts from the same overall veriication process. As opposed to CBR applications that are justiied by the fact that no or insuucient domain knowledge is available to solve a problem from rst principles or by saving a huge search eeort, our technique aims at saving user interaction. Several case studies provide rst proofs of sig-niicant savings of user interaction in veriication proofs by employing our CBR technique.