Computation Engineering (eBook)

Applied Automata Theory and Logic

Ganesh Gopalakrishnan (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2006 | 1. Auflage
512 Seiten
Springer US (Verlag)
978-0-387-32520-0 (ISBN)

Infos

The computer hardware and software industry is committed to using formal methods. As a result, it is crucial that students who take automata theory and logic courses retain what they have learned and understand how to use their knowledge. Yet many textbooks typically emphasize automata theory only, not logic, thus losing a valuable opportunity to tie these subjects together and reinforce learning. In fact, automata theory and logic evolved hand-in-hand, yet this connection was severed in the '70s as separate automata-theory and logic courses became possible. Now, with computer science departments suffering from overcrowded syllabi, it is often possible for undergraduates to get a BS without having had to take a course in mathematical logic! Today's students want to know how knowledge can work for them -- learning theory as a tool is preferable to learning theory for theory's sake. To prove that theoretical tenents are not only applicable, but also necessary and relevant, useful examples must be presented. This textbook uses interactive tools throughout, such as simple BDD and SAT tools. By providing a blend of theory and practical applications the material is shown to be both inviting and current. Topics are also illustrated in multiple domains so that information is reinforced and students can begin to tie automata theory and logic together. They will also learn multiple uses of fixed-points, including BDD based model checking and understanding context-free productions. Having used this book, students will not only know and understand automata theory, but also be able to apply their knowledge in real practice.

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It takes more e?ort to verify that digital system designs are correct than it does to design them, and as systems get more complex the proportion of cost spent on veri?cation is increasing (one estimate is that veri?cation complexity rises as the square of design complexity). Although this veri?cation crisis was predicted decades ago, it is only recently that powerful methods based on mathematical logic and automata theory have come to the designers' rescue. The ?rst such method was equivalence checking, which automates Boolean algebra calculations.Nextcamemodelchecking,whichcanautomatically verify that designs have - or don't have - behaviours of interest speci?ed in temporal logic. Both these methods are available today in tools sold by all the major design automation vendors. It is an amazing fact that ideas like Boolean algebra and modal logic, originating frommathematicians andphilosophersbeforemodern computers were invented, have come to underlie computer aided tools for creating hardware designs. The recent success of 'formal' approaches to hardware veri?cation has lead to the creation of a new methodology: assertion based design, in which formal properties are incorporated into designs and are then validated by a combination of dynamic simulation and static model checking. Two industrial strength property languages based on tem- ral logic are undergoing IEEE standardisation. It is not only hardwaredesignand veri?cation that is changing: new mathematical approaches to software veri?cation are starting to be - ployed. Microsoft provides windows driver developers with veri?cation tools based on symbolic methods.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 10.9.2006
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik ► Theorie / Studium
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Elektrotechnik / Energietechnik
• ISBN-10: 0-387-32520-4 / 0387325204
• ISBN-13: 978-0-387-32520-0 / 9780387325200