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Is sometimes ever better than always?

  • II. Program Verification
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Program Construction

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 69))

Abstract

The "intermittent assertion" method for proving programs correct is explained and compared to the conventional axiomatic method. Simple axiomatic proofs of iterative algorithms that compute recursively defined functions, including Ackermann's function, are given. A critical examination of the two methods leads to the opinion that the axiomatic method is preferable.

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant MCS76-22360.

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References

  1. Manna, Z. and R. Waldinger. Is "sometime" sometimes better than "always"? CACM 21 (February 1978), 159–171.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Cornell University, 14853, Ithaca, New York, USA

    David Gries

Authors
  1. David Gries
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Editor information

Friedrich L. Bauer Manfred Broy E. W. Dijkstra S. L. Gerhart D. Gries M. Griffiths J. V. Guttag J. J. Horning S. S. Owicki C. Pair H. Partsch P. Pepper M. Wirsing H. Wössner

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© 1979 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Gries, D. (1979). Is sometimes ever better than always?. In: Bauer, F.L., et al. Program Construction. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 69. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0014664

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0014664

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-09251-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-35312-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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