A Method, Based on Plans, for Understanding How a Loop Implements a Computation
Name
AI_WP_150.pdf
Description
Main article
Size
903.63 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
5bc3ca30a3462a78c172e0e61347424d
Author(s)
Waters, Richard C.
Date Issued
July 1977
Publisher
MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Series/Report no.
MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Working Papers, WP-150;
Abstract
The plan method analyzes the structure of a program. The plan which results from applying the method represents this structure by specifying how the parts of the program interact. This paper demonstrates the utility of the plan method by showing how a plan for a loop can be used to help prove the correctness of a loop. The plan does this by providing a convenient description of what the loop does. This paper also shows how a plan for a loop can be developed based on the code for the loop without the assistance of any commentary. This is possible primarily because most loops are built up in stereotyped ways according to a few fundamental plan types. An experiment is presented which supports the claim that a small number of plan types cover a large percentage of actual cases.
Description
This report describes research done at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Support for the laboratory's artificial intelligence research is provided in part by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of Defense under Office of Naval Research contract N00014-75-C-0643.
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