Building Evolutionary Software Through Modular Executable Specifications and Incremental Derivations

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The first goal of this investigation is a software development strategy in which ultra-modular executable specifications are the starting point of systems design. By ultra-modular is meant a set of specific technologies that allow one to anticipate and realize change, including the use of domain-specific embedded languages to capture high- level, domain-specific semantics, and modular monadic interpreters on which to realize the semantics and associated software tools. Using these techniques a level of modularity in software is obtained that has not been achieved before: namely, modularity at the meta-level of abstract semantics. Second, the research seeks a notion of type-based modularity to capture software architecture. There is a misconception that type systems are contrary to the goals of "dynamic languages," which in turn are viewed as good candidates for building evolvable systems. This research contests this claim. In fact it is expected that modern typed languages such as ML and Haskell can offer even greater support for constructing reliable and efficient evolutionary software. In particular, the design and use of a higher-order module language is studied to capture systems architecture. Finally, a methodology is investigated that supports the notion of incremental derivations. In this methodology, some executable specifications are refined for improved performance, whether by formal methods (program transformation, partial evaluation, etc.) or by informal methods (such as rewriting inner loops in a lower-level language). The key point is that the derivations themselves can be modularized, thus making them suitable candidates for smooth evolution. When formal methods are employed, this also yields a technique for constructing modular proofs of program correctness; yet another innovative aspect of this approach. These three ideas form the cornerstone of the research effort. To evaluate them, the investigation includes the design of a prototype extens ible operating system. ***