Specification and Transformation of Programs

Specification and Transformation of Programs is short for a methodology of software development where, from a formal specification of a problem, programs correctly solving that problem are constructed by stepwise application of formal, semantics-preserving transformation rules. This book is primarily intended as a general introductory textbook. It can also be seen as a comprehensive account of the transformational methodology developed within the Munich CIP project. The contents of the book reflect the essential steps in a sequential process of software development from an informally stated problem, via a formal problem specification, to a final, efficient program. Aspects considered include linguistic means for describing the various intermediate stages in the process, individual techniques for the transition between these stages, and strategies for applying these techniques. All aspects are illustrated by representative examples.