Specifying Systems

This book is the distillation of over 25 years of work by one of the world's most renowned computer scientists. A specification is a written description of what a system is supposed to do, plus a way of checking to make sure that it works. Specifying a system helps us understand it. It's a good idea to understand a system before building it, so it's a good idea to write a specification of a system before implementing it. The most effective tool to describe a specification is the Temporal Logic of Actions, or TLA, because it provides a mathematical, i.e. precise, foundation for describing systems. TLA+ is the language the author developed to write the mathematical specifications. TLA+ is available freely on the web. It can be used for both software and hardware. In fact, Intel is using TLA+ with great success in the design of a new chip. The book is divided into four parts. The first part contains all that most programmers and engineers need to know about writing specifications. The second part contains more advanced material for more sophisticated readers. The third and fourth parts comprise a reference manual for TLA+ - both the language itself as well as its tools.

ISBN 032114306X   Pages 384 ISBN13 9780321143068 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Pearson Education (US)   Weight (grammes) 635 Imprint Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc   Published in New Jersey Format Paperback   Height (mm) 235 Publication date 19 Jul 2002   Width (mm) 187 Library of Congress 2002074369   Spine width (mm) 25 DEWEY 004.21   Academic level Tertiary education DEWEY edition DC21

		List of Figures and Tables
		Acknowledgments
		Introduction		1
Pt. I		Getting Started		5
1		A Little Simple Math		9
2		Specifying a Simple Clock		15
3		An Asynchronous Interface		23
4		A Fifo		35
5		A Caching Memory		45
6		Some More Math		65
7		Writing a Specification: Some Advice		75
Pt. II		More Advanced Topics		85
8		Liveness and Fairness		87
9		Real Time		117
10		Composing Specifications		135
11		Advanced Examples		169
Pt. III		The Tools		205
12		The Syntactic Analyzer		207
13		The TLAT[subscript E]X Typesetter		211
14		The TLC Model Checker		221
Pt. IV		The TLA+ Language		265
15		The Syntax of TLA+		275
16		The Operators of TLA+		291
17		The Meaning of a Module		317
18		The Standard Modules		339

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