EvoAlloy: An Evolutionary Approach For Analyzing Alloy Specifications

Authors

Jianghao Wang, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

First Advisor

Hamid Bagheri

Date of this Version

Fall 11-30-2018

Document Type

Article

Citation

Jianghao Wang. EvoAlloy: An Evolutionary Approach For Analyzing Alloy Specifications. MS Thesis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2018.

Comments

A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science, Major: Computer Science, Under the Supervision of Doctor Hamid Bagheri. Lincoln, Nebraska: May, 2018

Copyright (c) 2018 Jianghao Wang

Abstract

Using mathematical notations and logical reasoning, formal methods precisely define a program’s specifications, from which we can instantiate valid instances of a system. With these techniques, we can perform a variety of analysis tasks to verify system dependability and rigorously prove the correctness of system properties. While there exist well-designed automated verification tools including ones considered lightweight, they still lack a strong adoption in practice. The essence of the problem is that when applied to large real world applications, they are not scalable and applicable due to the expense of thorough verification process. In this thesis, I present a new approach and demonstrate how to relax the completeness guarantee without much loss, since soundness is maintained. I have extended a widely applied lightweight analysis, Alloy, with a genetic algorithm. Our new tool, EvoAlloy, works at the level of finite relations generated by Kodkod and evolves the chromosomes based on the feedback including failed constraints. Through a feasibility study, I prove that my approach can successfully find solutions to a set of specifications beyond the scope where traditional Alloy Analyzer fails. While EvoAlloy solves small size problems with longer time, its scalability provided by genetic extension shows its potential to handle larger specifications. My future vision is that when specifications are small I can maintain both soundness and completeness, but when this fails, EvoAlloy can switch to its genetic algorithm.

Adviser: Hamid Bagheri