15-819A4 Separation Logic (6 units) Spring 2003

John C. Reynolds

Second Half of Spring Semester 2003

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:30-2:50 pm Wean Hall 4601

Course Description

Separation logic is an extension of Hoare logic for reasoning about programs that use shared mutable data structures. We will survey the current development of this logic, including extensions that permit unrestricted address arithmetic, dynamically allocated arrays, and recursive procedures. We will also discuss promising future directions.

PREREQUISITES: 15-819A3 or equivalent, or permission of instructor.

TEXT: Notes and papers will be distributed.

METHOD OF EVALUATION: Grading will be based on homework and final exam.

Tentative Bibliography

  1. Reynolds, John C., Intuitionistic Reasoning about Shared Mutable Data Structure. Millennial Perspectives in Computer Science, Palgrave, 2000, pp. 303-321.
  2. Ishtiaq, Samin and O'Hearn, Peter W., BI as an Assertion Language for Mutable Data Structures. POPL 28, January 2001, pp. 14-26.
  3. Yang, Hongseok, An Example of Local Reasoning in BI Pointer Logic: The Schorr-Waite Graph Marking Algorithm. SPACE 2001, January 2001, pp. 41-68.
  4. O'Hearn, Peter W. and Reynolds, John C. and Yang, Hongseok, Local Reasoning about Programs that Alter Data Structures. CSL 2001, LNCS 2142, pp. 1-19.
  5. Calcagno, Cristiano and Yang, Hongseok and O'Hearn, Peter W., Computability and Complexity Results for a Spatial Assertion Language for Data Structures. FST TCS 2001, LNCS 2245, pp. 108-119.
  6. Yang, Hongseok and O'Hearn, Peter W., A Semantic Basis for Local Reasoning. FOSSACS 2002, LNCS 2303, pp. 402-416.
  7. Reynolds, John C., Separation Logic: A Logic for Shared Mutable Data Structures. LICS 17, July 2002.

last updated November 19, 2003