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Updated manual to include ranges, domains, $for, $parfor.

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1\part{Language}
2\label{part:lang}
3
4\chapter{Overview of CIVL-C}
5
6\section{Main Concepts}
7
8CIVL-C is an extension of a subset of the C11 dialect of C. It
9includes the most commonly-used elements of C, including most of the
10syntax, types, expressions, and statements. Missing are some of the
11more esoteric type qualifiers, bitwise operations (at least for now),
12and much of the standard library. Moreover, none of the C11 language
13elements dealing with concurrency are included, as CIVL-C has its own
14concurrency primitives.
15
16The keywords in CIVL-C not already in C begin with the symbol \cckey.
17This makes them readily identifiable and also prevents any naming
18conflicts with identifiers in C programs. This means that most legal
19C programs will also be legal CIVL-C programs.
20
21One of the most important features of CIVL-C not found in standard C
22is the ability to define functions in any scope. (Standard C allows
23function definitions only in the file scope.) This feature is also
24found in GNU C, the GNU extension of C.
25
26Another central CIVL-C feature is the ability to \emph{spawn}
27functions, i.e., run the function in a new \emph{process} (thread).
28
29\emph{Scopes} and \emph{processes} are the two central themes of
30CIVL-C. Each has a static and a dynamic aspect. The static scopes
31correspond to the lexical scopes in the program---typically, regions
32delimited by curly braces \lb \ldots \rb. At runtime, these scopes
33are \emph{instantiated} when control in a process reaches the
34beginning of the scope. Processes are created dynamically by
35\emph{spawning} functions; hence the functions are the static
36representation of processes.
37
38\section{Example Illustrating Scopes and Processes}
39
40To understand the static and dynamic nature of scopes and processes,
41and the relations between them, we consider the (artificial) example
42code of Figure \ref{fig:scopecodeex}. The static scopes in the scope
43are numbered from $0$ to $6$.
44
45\begin{figure}[t]
46 \centering
47 \includegraphics[scale=1.2]{scopeCodeExample}
48 \caption{CIVL-C code skeleton to illustrate scope hierarchy}
49 \label{fig:scopecodeex}
50\end{figure}
51
52\begin{figure}
53 \centering
54 \includegraphics[scale=1.2]{scopeStateExample}
55 \caption{Static scope tree and a state for example program}
56 \label{fig:scopestateex}
57\end{figure}
58
59The static scopes have a tree structure: one scope is a child of
60another if the first is immediately contained in the second. Scope 0,
61which is the file scope (or \emph{root} scope) is the root of this
62tree. The static scope tree is depicted in Figure
63\ref{fig:scopestateex} (left). Each scope is identified by its
64integer ID. Additionally, if the scope happens to be the scope of a
65function definition, the name of the function is included in this
66identifier. A node in this tree also shows the variables and
67functions declared in the scope. For brevity, we omit the \emph{proc}
68variables.
69
70We now look at what happens when this program executes. Figure
71\ref{fig:scopestateex} (right) illustrates a possible state of the
72program at one point in an execution. We now explain how
73this state is arrived at.
74
75First, there is an implicit \emph{root function} placed around the
76entire code. The body of the \emph{main} function becomes the body
77of the root function, and the \emph{main} function itself disappears.
78This minor transformation does not change the structure of the scope
79tree.
80
81Execution begins by spawning a process $p_0$ to execute the root
82function. This causes scope $0$ to be instantiated. An instance of a
83static scope is known as a \emph{dynamic scope}, or \emph{dyscopes}
84for short. The dynamic scopes are represented by the ovals with
85double borders on the right side of Figure \ref{fig:scopestateex}.
86Each dyscope specifies a value for every variable declared in the
87corresponding static scope. In this case, the value $3$ has been
88assigned to variable \texttt{x}.
89
90The state of process $p_0$ is represented by a \emph{call stack}
91(green). The entries on this stack are \emph{activation frames}.
92Each frame contains two data: a reference to a dyscope (indicated by
93blue arrows) and a current location (or programmer counter vaule) in
94the static scope corresponding to that dyscope (not shown). The
95dyscope defines the environment in which the process evaluates
96expressions and executes statements. The currently executing function
97of a process, corresponding to the top frame in the call stack, can
98``see'' only the variables in its dyscope and those of all the
99ancestors of its dyscope in the dyscope tree.
100
101Returning to the example, $p_0$ enters scope 6, instanitating that
102scope, and then spawns procedure \texttt{f}. This creates process
103$p_1$, with a new stack with a frame pointing to a dyscope
104corresponding to static scope 1. The new process proceed to run
105concurrently with $p_0$. Meanwhile, $p_0$ calls procedure \texttt{g},
106which pushes a new entry onto its call stack, and instantiates scope
1075. Hence $p_0$ has two entries on its stack: the bottom one pointing
108to the instance of scope 6, the top one pointing to the instance of
109scope 5.
110
111Meanwhile, assume $\texttt{x}>0$, so that $p_1$ takes the \emph{true}
112branch of the \texttt{if} statement, instantiating scope 3 under the
113instance of scope 1. It then spawns two copies of procedure
114\texttt{f1}, creating processes $p_2$ and $p_3$ and two instances of
115scope 2. Then $p_1$ spawns \texttt{f2}, creating process $p_4$ and an
116instance of scope 4. Note that the instance of scope 4 is a child of
117the instance of scope 3, since the (static) scope 4 is a child of
118scope 3. Finally, $p_1$ calls \texttt{f2}, pushing a new entry on its
119stack and creating another instance of scope 4. The final state
120arrived at is the one shown.
121
122There are few key points to understand:
123\begin{itemize}
124\item In any state, there is a mapping from the dyscope tree to the
125 static scope tree which maps a dyscope to the static scope of which
126 it is an instance. This mapping is a \emph{tree homomorphism},
127 i.e., if dyscope $u$ is a child of dyscope $v$, then the static
128 scope corresponding to $u$ is a child of the static scope
129 corresponding to $v$.
130\item A static scope may have any number of instances, including 0.
131\item Dynamic scopes are created when control enters the corresponding
132 static scope; they disappear from the state when they become
133 unreachable. A dyscope $v$ is ``reachable'' if some process has a
134 frame pointing to a dyscope $u$ and there is a path from $u$ up to
135 $v$ that follows the parent edges in the dyscope tree.
136\item Processes are created when functions are spawned; they disappear
137 from the state when their stack becomes empty (either because the
138 process terminates normally or invokes the \emph{exit} system
139 function).
140\end{itemize}
141
142\section{Structure of a CIVL-C program}
143
144A CIVL-C program is structured very much like a standard C program.
145In particular, a CIVL-C program may use the preprocessor directives
146specified in the C Standard, and with the same meaning. A source
147program is preprocessed, then parsed, resulting in a translation unit,
148just as with standard C. The main differences are the nesting of
149function definitions and the new primitives beginning with
150\texttt{\$}, which are described in detail in the remainder of this
151part of the manual.
152
153A CIVL-C program must begin with the line
154\begin{verbatim}
155#include <civlc.h>
156\end{verbatim}
157which includes the main CIVL-C header file, which declares all the
158types and other CIVL primitives.
159
160As usual, a translation unit consists of a sequence of variable
161declarations, function prototypes, and function definitions in file
162scope. In addition, \emph{assume} statements may occur in the file
163scope. These are used to state assumptions on the input values
164to a program.
165
166\chapter{Sequential Elements}
167
168In this chapter we describe the main sequential elements of the
169language. For the most part these are the same as in C.
170Primitives dealing with concurrency are introduced in Chapter
171\ref{chap:concurrency}.
172
173\section{Types}
174
175\subsection{Standard types inherited from C}
176
177The boolean type is denoted \verb!_Bool!, as in C. Its values are $0$
178and $1$, which are also denoted by $\cfalse$ and $\ctrue$,
179respectively.
180
181There is one integer type, corresponding to the mathematical integers.
182Currently, all of the C integer types \texttt{int}, \texttt{long},
183\texttt{unsigned\ int}, \texttt{short}, etc., are mapped to the CIVL
184integer type.
185
186There is one real type, corresponding to the mathematical real
187numbers. Currently, all of the C real types \texttt{double},
188\texttt{float}, etc., are mapped to the CIVL real type.
189
190Array types, \texttt{struct} and \texttt{union} types, \texttt{char},
191and pointer types (including pointers to functions) are all exactly as
192in C.
193
194% \subsection{The heap type $\cheap$ and handles}
195
196% Unlike C, a CIVL-C program does not necessarily have access to a
197% single, global heap. Instead, there is a $\cheap$ type, and heaps may
198% be declared explicitly wherever they are needed. Hence a CIVL-C
199% program may have several heaps, and these may exist in different
200% scopes.
201
202% A heap is declared and created as follows:
203% \begin{verbatim}
204% $heap h = $heap_create();
205% \end{verbatim}
206% The function \verb!$heap_create()! creates a new empty heap in the
207% current scope and returns a \emph{handle} to that heap. A handle is
208% like a pointer: it is a reference to another object. However, a handle
209% is much more restricted than a general pointer. In particular, it
210% cannot be dereferenced (by the \ct{*} operator). The underlying heap
211% object can only be accessed by using a handle to it as an argument to
212% a system function.
213
214% Handles can be used in assignments and passed as arguments to functions.
215% For example, this declaration could follow the one above:
216% \begin{verbatim}
217% $heap h2=h;
218% \end{verbatim}
219% After executing this code, \ct{h2} and \ct{h} will be aliased, i.e., the two
220% handles will refer to the same heap object.
221
222% The heap object exists in the scope in which it is created. In
223% particular, it will disappear when that scope disappears, i.e., when
224% control reaches the right curly brace that defines the end of the
225% scope. At that point, any references into the heap become invalid.
226
227% The following system functions deal with heaps:
228% \begin{verbatim}
229% void* $malloc($heap h, int size);
230% void free(void *p)
231% \end{verbatim}
232% The first function is like C's \texttt{malloc}, except that you
233% specify the heap in which the allocation takes place.
234% This modifies the specified heap and returns a pointer to the new object.
235% The function can only occur in a context in which the type of the object is
236% specified, as in:
237% \begin{verbatim}
238% $heap h;
239% int n = 10;
240% double *p = (double*)$malloc(h, n*sizeof(double));
241% \end{verbatim}
242% The function \ct{free} is exactly the same as in C. Note that
243% \texttt{free} modifies the heap which was used to allocate \texttt{p}.
244
245
246\subsection{The bundle type: \cbundle}
247
248CIVL-C includes a type named \cbundle. A bundle is basically a
249sequence of data, wrapped into an atomic package. A bundle is created
250using a function that specifies a region of memory. One can create a
251bundle from an array of integers, and another bundle from an array of
252reals. Both bundles have the same type, \cbundle. They can therefore
253be entered into an array of \cbundle, for example. Hence bundles are
254useful for mixing objects of different (even statically unknown) types
255into a single data structure. Later, the contents of a bundle can be
256extracted with another function that specifies a region of memory into
257which to unpack the bundle; if that memory does not have the right
258type to receive the contents of the bundle, a runtime error is
259generated.
260
261\begin{figure}
262\begin{verbatim}
263/* Creates a bundle from the memory region specified by ptr and size,
264 * copying the data into the new bundle */
265$bundle $bundle_pack(void *ptr, int size);
266
267/* Returns the size (number of bytes) of the bundle */
268int $bundle_size($bundle b);
269
270/* Copies the data out of the bundle into the region specified */
271void $bundle_unpack($bundle bundle, void *ptr);
272\end{verbatim}
273 \caption{The \emph{bundle} abstract data type}
274 \label{fig:bundle}
275\end{figure}
276
277The relevant functions for creating and manipulating bundles
278are given in Figure \ref{fig:bundle}.
279
280\subsection{The \cscope{} type}
281\label{sec:scopetype}
282
283An object of type $\cscope$ is a reference to a dynamic scope. It may
284be thought of as a ``dynamic scope ID, '' but it is not an integer and
285cannot be converted to an integer. Operations defined on scopes are
286discussed in Section \ref{sec:scopeexpr}.
287
288\subsection{The \crange{} and \cdomain{} types}
289
290CIVL-C provides certain abstract datatypes that are useful for
291representing iteration spaces of loops in an abstract way.
292
293First, there is a built-in type $\crange$. An object of this type
294represents an ordered set of integers. There are expressions for
295specifying range values; these are described in Section
296\ref{sec:range_expr}. Ranges are typically used as a step
297in constructing \emph{domains}, described next.
298
299A domain type is used to represent a set of tuples of integer values.
300Every tuple in a domain object has the same arity (i.e., number of
301components). The arity must be at least 1, and is called the
302\emph{dimension} of the domain object.
303
304For each integer constant expression $n$, there is a type
305\cdomainof{\(n\)}, representing domains of dimension $n$.
306% \texttt{\cdomain{}(}]\(n\)\texttt{)}
307The \emph{universal domain type}, denoted \cdomain{}, represents
308domains of all positive dimensions, i.e., it is the union over all
309$n\geq 1$ of \cdomainof{\(n\)}. In particular, each \cdomainof{\(n\)}
310is a subtype of \cdomain{}.
311
312There are expressions for specifying domain values; these are
313described in Section \ref{sec:domain_expr}. There are also certains
314statements that use domains, such as the ``CIVL-\emph{for}'' loop
315\cfor; see Section \ref{sec:cfor}.
316
317
318\section{Expressions}
319
320\subsection{Expressions inherited from C}
321
322The following C expressions are included in CIVL:
323\begin{itemize}
324\item \emph{constant} expressions
325\item \emph{identifier} expressions (\texttt{x})
326\item parenthetical expressions (\verb!(e)!)
327\item numerical \emph{addition} (\verb!a+b!), \emph{subtraction} (\verb!a-b!),
328 \emph{multiplication} (\verb!a*b!), \emph{division} (\verb!a/b!),
329 \emph{unary plus} (\verb!+a!), \emph{unary minus} (\verb!-a!),
330 \emph{integer division} (\verb!a/b!) and \emph{modulus} (\verb!a%b!),
331 all with their ideal mathematical interpretations
332\item array \emph{index} expressions (\verb!a[e]!) and struct or union
333 \emph{navigation} expressions (\verb!x.f!, \verb!p->f!)
334\item \emph{address-of} (\verb!&e!), pointer \emph{dereference} (\verb!*p!),
335 pointer \emph{addition} (\verb!p+i!) and \emph{subtraction} (\verb!p-q!)
336 expressions
337\item relational expressions (\verb!a==b!, \verb~a!=b~, \verb!a>=b!,
338 \verb!a<=b!, \verb!a<b!, \verb!a>b!)
339\item logical \emph{not} (\verb~!p~), \emph{and} (\verb!p&&q!), and
340 \emph{or} (\verb!p||q!)
341\item \emph{sizeof} a type (\verb!sizeof(t)!) or expression (\verb!sizeof(e)!)
342\item \emph{assignment} expressions (\verb!a=b!, \verb!a+=b!, \verb!a-=b!,
343 \verb!a*=b!, \verb!a/=b!, \verb!a%=b!, \verb!a++!, \verb!a--!)
344\item function \emph{calls} \verb!f(e1,...,en)!
345\item \emph{conditional} expressions (\verb!b ? e : f!).
346\item \emph{cast} expressions (\verb!(t)e!)
347\end{itemize}
348
349Bit-wise operations are not yet supported.
350
351\subsection{Scope expressions}
352\label{sec:scopeexpr}
353
354As mentioned in Section \ref{sec:scopetype}, CIVL-C provides a type
355\cscope. An object of this type is a reference to a dynamic scope.
356Several constants, expressions, and functions dealing with the
357\cscope{} type are also provided.
358
359The $\cscope$ type is like any other object type. It may be used as
360the element type of an array, a field in a structure or union, and so
361on. Expressions of type $\cscope$ may occur on the left or right-hand
362sides of assignments and as arguments in function calls just like any
363other expression. Two different variables of type $\cscope$ may be
364aliased, i.e., they may refer to the same dynamic scope.
365
366A dynamic scope $\delta$ is \emph{reachable} if there exists a path
367which starts from the dyscope referenced by some frame on the call
368stack of a process, follows the parent edges in the dyscope tree, and
369terminates in $\delta$. If a dyscope is not reachable, it can never
370become reachable, and it cannot have any effect on the subsequent
371execution of the program.
372
373Normally, a dynamic scope will eventually become unreachable. At some
374point after it becomes unreachable, it will be collected in a
375garbage-collection-like sweep, and any existing references to that
376scope will become \emph{undefined}. An object of type $\cscope$ is
377also undefined before it is initialized. Any use of an undefined
378value is reported as an error by CIVL, so it is important to be sure
379that a scope variable is defined before using it.
380
381
382\subsubsection{Checking if a dyscope is defined: \cscopedefined}
383
384The system function \cscopedefined{} has signature
385\begin{verbatim}
386 _Bool $scope_defined($scope s);
387\end{verbatim}
388It returns \emph{true} if the dynamic scope specified by \texttt{s} is
389defined, else it returns \emph{false}.
390
391\subsubsection{The constant \chere}
392
393A constant \chere{} exists in every scope. This constant has
394type \cscope{} and refers to the dynamic scope in which it is
395contained. For example,
396\begin{verbatim}
397 { // scope s
398 int *p = (int*)$malloc($here, n*sizeof(int));
399 }
400\end{verbatim}
401allocates an object consisting of $n$ ints in the scope $s$.
402
403\subsubsection{The constant \cscoperoot{}}
404
405There is a global constant \cscoperoot{} of type $\cscope$ which
406refers to the root dynamic scope.
407
408
409\subsubsection{Scope relational operators}
410
411Let $s_1$ and $s_2$ be expressions of type \cscope. The following are
412all CIVL-C expressions of boolean type:
413\begin{itemize}
414\item $s_1$ \ct{==} $s_2$. This is \emph{true} iff $s_1$ and $s_2$
415 refer to the same dynamic scope.
416\item $s_1$ \ct{!=} $s_2$. This is \emph{true} iff $s_1$ and $s_2$
417 refer to different dynamic scopes.
418\item $s_1$ \ct{<=} $s_2$. This is \emph{true} iff $s_1$ is equal to
419 or a descendant of $s_2$, i.e., $s_1$ is equal to or contained in $s_2$.
420\item $s_1$ \ct{<} $s_2$. This is \emph{true} iff $s_1$ is a strict
421 descendant of $s_2$, i.e., $s_1$ is contained in $s_2$ and is not
422 equal to $s_2$.
423\item $s_1$ \ct{>} $s_2$. This is equivalent to $s_2$ \ct{<} $s_1$.
424\item $s_1$ \ct{>=} $s_2$. This is equivalent to $s_2$ \ct{<=} $s_1$.
425\end{itemize}
426If $s_1$ or $s_2$ is undefined in any of these expressions, an error
427will be reported.
428
429\subsubsection{Scope parent function \texorpdfstring{\cscopeparent}{\$scope\_parent}}
430
431The system function
432\begin{verbatim}
433 $scope $scope_parent($scope s);
434\end{verbatim}
435returns the parent dynamic scope of the dynamic scope referenced by
436\ct{s}. If \ct{s} is the root dynamic scope, it returns the undefined
437value of type $\cscope$.
438
439\subsubsection{Lowest Common Ancestor: \ct{+}}
440
441The expression $s_1$ \ct{+} $s_2$, where $s_1$ and $s_2$ are
442expressions of type \cscope, evaluates to the lowest common ancestor
443of $s_1$ and $s_2$ in the dynamic scope tree. This is the smallest
444dynamic scope containing both $s_1$ and $s_2$.
445
446\subsubsection{The \cscopeof{} expression}
447
448Given any left-hand-side expression \ct{expr}, the expression
449\begin{verbatim}
450 $scopeof(expr)
451\end{verbatim}
452evaluates to the dynamic scope containing the object specified by
453\ct{expr}.
454
455The following example illustrates the semantics of the \cscopeof{}
456operator. All of the assertions hold:
457\begin{verbatim}
458{
459 $scope s1 = $here;
460 int x;
461 double a[10];
462
463 {
464 $scope s2 = $here;
465 int *p = &x;
466 double *q = &a[4];
467
468 assert($scopeof(x)==s1);
469 assert($scopeof(p)==s2);
470 assert($scopeof(*p)==s1);
471 assert($scopeof(a)==s1);
472 assert($scopeof(a[5])==s1);
473 assert($scopeof(q)==s2);
474 assert($scopeof(*q)==s1);
475 }
476}
477\end{verbatim}
478
479\subsection{Range and domain expressions}
480
481\subsubsection{Regular range expressions}
482\label{sec:range_expr}
483
484An expression of the form
485\begin{verbatim}
486 lo .. hi
487\end{verbatim}
488where \texttt{lo} and \texttt{hi} are integer expressions, represents
489the range consisting of the integers $\texttt{lo}, \texttt{lo}+1,
490\ldots, \texttt{hi}$ (in that order).
491
492An expression of the form
493\begin{verbatim}
494 lo .. hi # step
495\end{verbatim}
496where \texttt{lo}, \texttt{hi}, and \texttt{step} are integer
497expressions is interpreted as follows. If \texttt{step} is positive,
498it represents the range consisting of $\texttt{lo},
499\texttt{lo}+\texttt{step}, \texttt{lo}+2*\texttt{step}, \ldots$, up to
500and possibly including \texttt{hi}. To be precise, the infinite
501sequence is intersected with the set of integers less than or equal to
502\texttt{hi}.
503
504If \texttt{step} is negative, the expression represents the range
505consisting of $\texttt{hi}, \texttt{hi}+\texttt{step},
506\texttt{hi}+2*\texttt{step}, \ldots$, down to and possibly including
507\texttt{lo}. Precisely, the infinite sequence is intersected with the
508set of integers greater than or equal to \texttt{lo}.
509
510\subsubsection{Cartesian domain expressions}
511\label{sec:domain_expr}
512
513An expression of the form
514\begin{verbatim}
515 ($domain) { r1, ..., rn }
516\end{verbatim}
517where \texttt{r1}, \ldots, \texttt{rn} are $n$ expressions of type
518\crange, is a \emph{Cartesian domain expression}. It represents the
519domain of dimension $n$ which is the Cartesian product of the $n$
520ranges, i.e., it consists of all $n$-tuples $(x_1,\ldots,x_n)$ where
521$x_1\in\texttt{r1}$, \ldots, $x_n\in\texttt{rn}$. The order on the
522domain is the dictionary order on tuples. The type of this expression
523is \cdomainof{\(n\)}.
524
525When a Cartesian domain expression is used to initialize an object of
526domain type, the ``\texttt{(}\cdomain\texttt{)}'' may be omitted.
527For example:
528\begin{verbatim}
529 $domain(3) dom = { 0 .. 3, r2, 10 .. 2 # -2 };
530\end{verbatim}
531
532
533\section{Statements}
534
535\subsection{C Statements}
536
537The usual C statements are supported:
538\begin{itemize}
539\item \emph{no-op} (\ct{;})
540\item expression statements (\ct{e;})
541\item labeled statements, including \ct{case} and \ct{default} labels
542 (\ct{l: s})
543\item \emph{for} (\ct{for (init; cond; inc) s}), \emph{while}
544 (\ct{while (cond) s}) and \emph{do} (\ct{do s while (cond)})
545 loops
546\item compound statements (\lb \ct{s1;s2;} \ldots \rb)
547\item \texttt{if} and \verb!if! \ldots \verb!else!
548\item \verb!goto!
549\item \verb!switch!
550\item \verb!break!
551\item \verb!continue!
552\item \verb!return!
553\end{itemize}
554
555\subsection{Guards and nondeterminism}
556
557\subsubsection{Guarded commands: \cwhen}
558
559A guarded command is encoded in CIVL-C using a $\cwhen$ statement:
560\begin{verbatim}
561 $when (expr) stmt;
562\end{verbatim}
563All statements have a guard, either implicit or explicit. For most
564statements, the guard is \ctrue. The \cwhen{} statement allows one to
565attach an explicit guard to a statement.
566
567When \texttt{expr} is \emph{true}, the statement is enabled, otherwise
568it is disabled. A disabled statement is \emph{blocked}---it will not
569be scheduled for execution. When it is enabled, it may execute by
570moving control to the \texttt{stmt} and executing the first atomic
571action in the \texttt{stmt}.
572
573If \texttt{stmt} itself has a non-trivial guard, the guard of the
574\cwhen{} statement is effectively the conjunction of the \texttt{expr}
575and the guard of \texttt{stmt}.
576
577The evaluation of \texttt{expr} and the first atomic action of
578\texttt{stmt} effectively occur as a single atomic action. There is
579no guarantee that execution of \texttt{stmt} will continue atomically
580if it contains more than one atomic action, i.e., other processes may
581be scheduled.
582
583Examples:
584\begin{verbatim}
585 $when (s>0) s--;
586\end{verbatim}
587This will block until \texttt{s} is positive and then decrement
588\texttt{s}. The execution of \texttt{s--} is guaranteed to take place
589in an environment in which \texttt{s} is positive.
590
591\begin{verbatim}
592 $when (s>0) {s--; t++}
593\end{verbatim}
594The execution of \texttt{s--} must happen when \texttt{s>0}, but
595between \texttt{s--} and \texttt{t++}, other processes may execute.
596
597\begin{verbatim}
598 $when (s>0) $when (t>0) x=y*t;
599\end{verbatim}
600This blocks until both \texttt{x} and \texttt{t} are positive then
601executes the assignment in that state. It is equivalent to
602\begin{verbatim}
603 $when (s>0 && t>0) x=y*t;
604\end{verbatim}
605
606\subsubsection{Nondeterministic selection statement: \cchoose}
607
608A \cchoose{} statement has the form
609\begin{verbatim}
610 $choose {
611 stmt1;
612 stmt2;
613 ...
614 default: stmt
615 }
616\end{verbatim}
617The \texttt{default} clause is optional.
618
619The guards of the statements are evaluated and among those that are
620\emph{true}, one is chosen nondeterministically and executed. If none
621are \emph{true} and the \texttt{default} clause is present, it is
622chosen. The \texttt{default} clause will only be selected if all
623guards are \emph{false}. If no \texttt{default} clause is present and
624all guards are \emph{false}, the statement blocks. Hence the implicit
625guard of the \cchoose{} statement without a \texttt{default} clause is
626the disjunction of the guards of its sub-statements. The implicit
627guard of the \cchoose{} statement with a default clause is
628\emph{true}.
629
630Example: this shows how to encode a ``low-level'' CIVL guarded
631transition system:
632
633\begin{verbatim}
634 l1: $choose {
635 $when (x>0) {x--; goto l2;}
636 $when (x==0) {y=1; goto l3;}
637 default: {z=1; goto l4;}
638 }
639 l2: $choose {
640 ...
641 }
642 l3: $choose {
643 ...
644 }
645\end{verbatim}
646
647
648\subsubsection{Nondeterministic choice of integer:
649 \texorpdfstring{\cchooseint}{\$choose\_int}}
650
651The system function \cchooseint{} has the following signature:
652\begin{verbatim}
653 int $choose_int(int n);
654\end{verbatim}
655This function takes as input a positive integer \texttt{n} and
656nondeterministicaly returns an integer in the range
657$[0,\texttt{n}-1]$.
658
659\subsection{Iteration using domains with \cfor}
660\label{sec:cfor}
661
662A \emph{CIVL-for} statement has the form
663\begin{verbatim}
664 $for (int i1, ..., in : dom) S
665\end{verbatim}
666where \texttt{i1}, \ldots, \texttt{in} are $n$ identifiers,
667\texttt{dom} is an expression of type \cdomainof{\(n\)}, and
668\texttt{S} is a statement. The identifiers declare $n$ variables of
669integer type. Control iterates over the values of the domain,
670assigning the integer variables the components of the current tuple in
671the domain at the start of each iteration. The scope of the variables
672extends to the end of \texttt{S}. The iterations takes place in the
673order specified by the domain, e.g., dictionary order for a Caretesian
674domain.
675
676There is a also a parallel version of this construct, \cparfor,
677described in \ref{sec:parfor}.
678
679
680\chapter{Concurrency}
681\label{chap:concurrency}
682
683\section{Process creation and management}
684
685\subsection{The process type: \cproc}
686
687This is a primitive object type and functions like any other primitive
688C type (e.g., \texttt{int}). An object of this type refers to a
689process. It can be thought of as a process ID, but it is not an
690integer and cannot be cast to one. It is analogous to the $\cscope$
691type for dynamic scopes.
692
693Certain expressions take an argument of \cproc{} type and some return
694something of \cproc{} type. The operators \verb!==! and \verb~!=~ may
695be used with two arguments of type \cproc{} to determine whether the
696two arguments refer to the same process.
697
698\subsection{Checking if a process is defined: \cprocdefined}
699
700An object of type \cproc{} is initially undefined, so a use of that
701object would result in an error. One can check whether a \cproc{}
702object is defined using the method \cprocdefined:
703\begin{verbatim}
704 _Bool $proc_defined($proc p);
705\end{verbatim}
706
707\subsection{Obtaining the null process reference: \cprocNull}
708
709This function takes a pointer to an object of \cproc{} type as a parameter:
710
711\begin{verbatim}
712 void $proc_null($proc *p);
713\end{verbatim}
714
715It updates the corresponding object with the default null value of the \cproc{} type.
716The null value of \cproc{} type is considered as defined, i.e., there will be no
717error to use an \cproc{} object with null value.
718
719\subsection{The \emph{self} process constant: \cself}
720
721This is a constant of type \cproc. It can be used wherever an argument
722of type \cproc{} is called for. It refers to the process that is
723evaluating the expression containing \cself.
724
725\subsection{Spawning a new process: \cspawn}
726
727A \emph{spawn} expression is an expression with side-effects. It
728spawns a new process and returns a reference to the new process, i.e.,
729an object of type \cproc. The syntax is the same as a procedure
730invocation with the keyword \cspawn{} inserted in front:
731\begin{verbatim}
732 $spawn f(expr1, ..., exprn)
733\end{verbatim}
734Typically the returned value is assigned to a variable, e.g.,
735\begin{verbatim}
736 $proc p = $spawn f(i);
737\end{verbatim}
738If the invoked function \texttt{f} returns a value, that value is
739simply ignored.
740
741\subsection{Waiting for another process to terminate: \cwait}
742
743The system function $\cwait$ has signature
744\begin{verbatim}
745 void $wait($proc p);
746\end{verbatim}
747When invoked, this function will not return until the process
748referenced by \ct{p} has terminated. Note that $p$ can be any
749expression of type \cproc{}, not just a variable.
750
751\subsection{Terminating a process immediately: \cexit}
752
753This function takes no arguments. It causes the
754calling process to terminate immediately, regardless of the state of
755its call stack:
756\begin{verbatim}
757 void $exit(void);
758\end{verbatim}
759
760\section{Atomicity}
761
762\subsection{Atom blocks: \catom} This defines a number of statements
763to be executed as a single atomic transition. An \catom~block has the
764following form:
765\begin{verbatim}
766 $atom {
767 stmt1;
768 stmt2;
769 ...
770 }
771\end{verbatim}
772
773The statements inside an \catom\ block are to be executed as one
774transition. It is required that the execution of the statements in an
775\catom\ block satisfy all of the following properties:
776\begin{enumerate}
777\item \emph{deterministic}: at each step in the execution of the atom
778 block, there must be at most one enabled statement;
779\item \emph{nonblocking}: at each step in the execution, there must be
780 at least one enabled statement, hence, together with (1), there must
781 be exactly one enabled statement;
782\item \emph{finite}: the execution of the atom block must terminate
783 after a finite number of steps; and
784\item \emph{isolated}: there are no jumps from outside the atom block
785 to inside the atom block, or from inside the atomc block to outside
786 of it.
787\end{enumerate}
788
789Violations of the \emph{deterministic}, \emph{nonblocking}, or
790\emph{isolated} properties will be reported either statically or
791dynamically. If the \emph{finite} property is violated, the
792verification may just run forever.
793
794Once the process enters an \catom\ block is said to be \emph{executing
795 atomly}. The process remains executing atomly until it reaches the
796terminating right brace of the block. Hence \emph{executing atomly}
797is a dynamic, not static condition. For example, the block might
798contain a function call which takes the process to a point in code
799which is not statically contained in an atom block; that process is
800nevertheless still executing atomly and is subject to the rules above.
801The process only stops executing atomly when that function call
802returns and control finally reaches the right curly brace at the end
803of the atom block (assuming the block is not contained in another atom
804block).
805
806\emph{Note:} \cwait\ statements are not allowed in \catom\ blocks.
807The rationale for this is that there is never a way to know for
808certain that another process has terminated (until \cwait\ has
809returned) so there is never a way to be certain the \cwait\ statement
810will not block. If one does occur in an \catom\ block, an error will
811be reported statically (if it can be detected statically) or
812dynamically (otherwise). Note that it is not always possible to
813detect this statically because the \catom\ block may contain a
814function call, and the function may contain the \cwait\ statement.
815
816\subsection{Atomic blocks: \catomic}
817
818The statements in an \emph{atomic} block will be executed without
819other processes interleaving, to the extent possible. It has the
820form:
821\begin{verbatim}
822 $atomic {
823 stmt1;
824 stmt2;
825 ...
826 }
827\end{verbatim}
828It is essentially a weaker form of \catom. Unlike \catom, there are
829no restrictions on the statements that can go inside an \catomic\
830block. A process executing an \catomic~block will try to execute the
831statements without interleaving with other processes, unless it
832becomes blocked. Unlike an \catom, the statements in an atomic block
833do not necessarily execute as a single transition; they may be spread
834out over multiple transitions.
835
836When no statement is enabled, the execution of the \catomic\ block
837will be interrupted. At this point, other processes are allowed to
838execute. Eventually, if the original process becomes enabled due to
839the actions of other processes, it may be scheduled again, in which
840case it regains atomicity and continues where it left off. For
841example, after executing the first loop, the process executing the
842following code will become blocked at the first \cwait\ statement:
843 \begin{verbatim}
844$atomic{
845 for(int i = 0; i < 5; i++) p[i] = $spawn foo(i);
846 for(int i = 0; i < 5; i++) $wait p[i];
847}
848\end{verbatim}
849Other processes will then execute. Eventually, if the process being
850waited on terminates, the original process becomes enabled and may be
851scheduled, in which case it regain atomicity, increments \texttt{i}
852and proceeds to the next $\cwait$ statement. This is in fact a common
853idiom for spawning and waiting on a set of processes.
854
855A process that enters an $\catomic$ block is said to be
856\emph{executing atomically}; it remains executing atomically until it
857reaches the closing curly brace.
858
859Both $\catom$ and $\catomic$ blocks can be nested arbitrarily, but
860$\catom$ overrides $\catomic$: a process that is executing atomly will
861continue executing atomly if it encounters an $\catomic$ statement;
862but a process executing atomically that encounters an $\catom$ will
863begin executing atomly.
864
865The atomic semantics are defined more precisely as follows: there is a
866single global variable called the \emph{atomic lock}. This variable
867can either be null (meaning the atomic lock is ``free''), or it can
868hold the PID of a process; that process is said to ``hold'' the atomic
869lock. Moreover, each process contains a special integer variable, its
870\emph{atomic counter}, which is initially 0. Every time a process
871enters an atomic block, it increments its atomic counter; every time
872it exits an atomic block, it decrements its counter. In order to
873increment its counter from $0$ to $1$, it must first wait for the
874atomic lock to become free, and then take the lock. When it
875decrements its counter from $1$ to $0$, it releases the atomic lock.
876When a process executing atomically becomes blocked, it releases the
877lock (without changing the value of its atomic counter).
878
879\section{Parallel loops with \cparfor}
880\label{sec:parfor}
881
882A parallel loop statement has the form
883\begin{verbatim}
884 $parfor (int i1, ..., in : dom) S
885\end{verbatim}
886The syntax is exactly the same as that for the sequential loop \cfor
887(Section \ref{sec:cfor}), only with \cparfor{} replacing \cfor.
888
889The semantics are as follows: when control reaches the loop, one
890process in spawned for each element of the domain. That process has
891local variables corresponding to the iteration variables, and those
892local variables are initialized with the components of the tuple for
893the element of the domain that process is assigned. Each process
894executes the statement \texttt{S} in this context. Finally, each of
895these processes is waited on at the end. In particular, there is an
896effective barrier at the end of the loop, and all the spawned
897processes disappear after this point.
898
899\section{Message-Passing}
900
901CIVL-C provides a number of additional primitives that can be used to
902model message-passing systems. This part of the language is built in
903two layers: the lower layer defines an abstract data type for
904representing messages; the higher layer defines an abstract data type
905of \emph{communicators} for managing sets of messages being
906transferred among some set of processes.
907
908\subsection{Messages: \cmessage}
909
910Messages are similar to bundles, but with some additional meta-data.
911The \emph{data} component of the message is the ``contents'' of the
912message and is formed and extracted much like a bundle. The meta-data
913consists of an integer identifier for the \emph{source} place of the
914message, an integer identifier for the message \emph{destination}
915place, and an integer \emph{tag} which can be used by a process to
916discriminate among messages for reception. This is very similar to
917MPI.
918
919\begin{figure}
920 \begin{small}
921\begin{verbatim}
922/* creates a new message, copying data from the specified buffer */
923$message $message_pack(int source, int dest, int tag, void *data, int size);
924
925/* returns the message source */
926int $message_source($message message);
927
928/* returns the message tag */
929int $message_tag($message message);
930
931/* returns the message destination */
932int $message_dest($message message);
933
934/* returns the message size */
935int $message_size($message message);
936
937/* transfers message data to buf, throwing exception if message
938 * size exceeds specified size */
939void $message_unpack($message message, void *buf, int size);
940\end{verbatim}
941 \end{small}
942 \caption{The \emph{message} abstract data type}
943 \label{fig:message}
944\end{figure}
945
946The functions for creating, and extracting information from, messages
947are given in Figure \ref{fig:message}.
948
949\subsection{Communicators: \cgcomm{} and \ccomm}
950\label{sec:communicators}
951
952CIVL-C defines a \emph{global communicator} type $\cgcomm$ and a
953\emph{local communicator} type $\ccomm$. The global communicator is an
954abstraction for a ``communication universe'' that stores buffered
955messages and perhaps other data. The local communicator wraps
956together a reference to a global communicator and an integer
957\emph{place}. Most of the message-passing commands take a local
958communicator as an argument to specify the communication universe used
959for that operation and the place from which that operation will be
960executed. The communication universes are isolated from one
961another---a message sent on one can never be received using a
962different communicator, for example.
963
964The global communicator is the shared object that must be declared in
965a scope containing all scopes in which communication in that universe
966will take place. It is created by specifying the number of
967\emph{places} that will comprise the communicator. A place is an
968address to which messages may be sent or where they may be received.
969There is not necessarily a one-to-one correspondence between places and
970processes: many processes can use the same place.
971
972Local communicators are created (typically in some child scope of the
973scope in which the global communicator is declared) by specifying the
974gobal communicator to which the local one will be associated and the
975place ID. The local communicator will be used in most of the
976message-passing functions; it may be thought of as an ordered pair
977consisting of a reference to the global communicator and the integer
978place ID. The place ID must be in $[0,\texttt{size}-1]$, where
979\texttt{size} is the size of the global communicator. The place ID
980specifies the place in the global communication universe that will be
981occupied by the local communicator. The local communicator handle may
982be used by more than one process, but all of those processes will be
983viewed as occupying the same place. Only one call to \ccommcreate{}
984may occur for each gcomm-place pair.
985
986
987Both types ($\cgcomm$ and $\ccomm$) are handle types. When declared
988with a call to the corresponding creation function, they create an
989object in the specified scope and return a handle to that object. The
990object can only be accessed through the specified system functions
991that take this handle as an argument.
992
993 % This local communicator handle will be used as an
994 % * argument in most message-passing functions. The place must be in
995 % * [0,size-1] and specifies the place in the global communication universe
996 % * that will be occupied by the local communicator. The local communicator
997 % * handle may be used by more than one process, but all of those
998 % * processes will be viewed as occupying the same place.
999 % * Only one call to $comm_create may occur for each gcomm-place pair.
1000
1001\begin{figure}
1002 \begin{small}
1003\begin{verbatim}
1004/* Creates a new global communicator object and returns a handle to it.
1005 * The global communicator will have size communication places. The
1006 * global communicator defines a communication "universe" and encompasses
1007 * message buffers and all other components of the state associated to
1008 * message-passing. The new object will be allocated in the given scope. */
1009$gcomm $gcomm_create($scope s, int size);
1010
1011void $gcomm_destroy($gcomm gcomm); // Destroys the gcomm
1012
1013_Bool $gcomm_defined($gcomm gcomm); // Is the gcomm object defined?
1014
1015/* Creates a new local communicator object and returns a handle to it.
1016 * The new communicator will be affiliated with the specified global
1017 * communicator. The new object will be allocated in the given scope. */
1018$comm $comm_create($scope s, $gcomm gcomm, int place);
1019
1020void $comm_destroy($comm comm); // Destroys the comm
1021
1022_Bool $comm_defined($comm comm); // Is the comm object defined?
1023
1024/* Returns the size (number of places) in the global communicator associated
1025 * to the given comm. */
1026int $comm_size($comm comm);
1027
1028/* Returns the place of the local communicator. This is the same as the
1029 * place argument used to create the local communicator. */
1030int $comm_place($comm comm);
1031
1032/* Adds the message to the appropriate message queue in the communication
1033 * universe specified by the comm. The source of the message must equal
1034 * the place of the comm. */
1035void $comm_enqueue($comm comm, $message message);
1036
1037/* Returns true iff a matching message exists in the communication universe
1038 * specified by the comm. A message matches the arguments if the destination
1039 * of the message is the place of the comm, and the sources and tags match. */
1040_Bool $comm_probe($comm comm, int source, int tag);
1041
1042/* Finds the first matching message and returns it without modifying
1043 * the communication universe. If no matching message exists, returns a message
1044 * with source, dest, and tag all negative. */
1045$message $comm_seek($comm comm, int source, int tag);
1046
1047/* Finds the first matching message, removes it from the communicator,
1048 * and returns the message */
1049$message $comm_dequeue($comm comm, int source, int tag);
1050\end{verbatim}
1051 \end{small}
1052 \caption{The \emph{communicator} interface specifies handle
1053 types $\cgcomm$ and $\ccomm$ and the functions above}
1054 \label{fig:comm}
1055\end{figure}
1056
1057The communicator interface is given in Figure \ref{fig:comm}.
1058
1059Certain restrictions are enforced on some relations between the
1060objects involved in a communication universe.
1061
1062Fix a \cgcomm{} object. This object corresponds to a single
1063communication universe with, say, $n$ places. At any time, there can
1064be \emph{at most one} \ccomm{} object associated to a given place. If
1065a program attempts to create a \ccomm{} object with the same \cgcomm{}
1066and place as an earlier created \ccomm{} object, a runtime error will
1067occur. In particular, there can be at most $n$ \ccomm{} objects
1068associated to the \cgcomm.
1069
1070The relation between processes and \ccomm{} objects is unconstrained.
1071One process may use any number of \ccomm{} objects. (Of course, the
1072process must have access to handles for those \ccomm{} objects.)
1073Dually, a single \ccomm{} object may be used by any number of
1074processes; this situation arises naturally when modeling a
1075multi-threaded MPI program.
1076
1077\begin{figure}
1078 \begin{small}
1079\begin{verbatim}
1080$gcomm gcomm = $gcomm_create($here, nprocs);
1081void Process(int rank) {
1082 $comm comm = $comm_create($here, gcomm, rank);
1083
1084 void Thread(int tid) {
1085 ...$comm_enqueue(comm, msg)...
1086 ...$comm_dequeue(comm, source, tag)...
1087 }
1088
1089 for (int i=0; i<nthreads; i++) $spawn Thread(i);
1090 ...
1091 $comm_destroy(comm);
1092}
1093for (int i=0; i<nprocs; i++) $spawn Process(i);
1094...
1095$gcomm_destroy(gcomm);
1096\end{verbatim}
1097 \end{small}
1098 \caption{Code skeleton for model of multithreaded MPI program
1099 showing placement of global and local communicator objects}
1100 \label{fig:mpi-threads-comm}
1101\end{figure}
1102
1103There is no special status given to the process which creates the
1104\ccomm{} object of a given place. Any process which can access a
1105handle for that \ccomm{} object can use it to send or receive
1106messages, regardless of whether that process was the one that created
1107the \ccomm{} object. However, users should be aware that verification
1108is likely to be most efficient when variables are declared as locally
1109as possible, so it is best to declare the \ccomm{} object in the
1110innermost scope possible. Figure \ref{fig:mpi-threads-comm}
1111illustrates an effective way to do this in the context of modeling a
1112multithreaded MPI program. In the code skeleton, each thread can
1113access the local communicator object of its process, but not that of
1114any other process.
1115
1116\subsection{Barriers: \cgbarrier{} and \cbarrier}
1117\label{sec:barriers}
1118
1119CIVL-C defines a \emph{global barrier} type $\cgbarrier$ and a
1120\emph{local barrier} type $\cbarrier$. They provide an implementation of
1121a barrier for concurrent programs.
1122
1123The global barrier is a shared object that must be declared in
1124a scope containing all scopes in which the barrier will be called.
1125 It is created by specifying the number of
1126\emph{places} that will comprise the barrier.
1127
1128Local barriers are created (typically in some child scope of the
1129scope in which the global barrier is declared) by specifying the
1130gobal barrier to which the local one will be associated and the
1131place ID. The local barrier will be used in the call to the barrier;
1132it may be thought of as an ordered pair
1133consisting of a reference to the global barrier and the integer
1134place ID. The place ID must be in $[0,\texttt{size}-1]$, where
1135\texttt{size} is the size of the global barrier.
1136Only one call to \cbarriercreate{}
1137may occur for each gbarrier-place pair.
1138
1139
1140Both types ($\cgbarrier$ and $\cbarrier$) are handle types. When declared
1141with a call to the corresponding creation function, they create an
1142object in the specified scope and return a handle to that object. The
1143object can only be accessed through the specified system functions
1144that take this handle as an argument.
1145
1146
1147\begin{figure}
1148 \begin{small}
1149\begin{verbatim}
1150/* Creates a new barrier object and returns a handle to it.
1151 * The barrier has the specified size.
1152 * The new object will be allocated in the given scope. */
1153$gbarrier $gbarrier_create($scope scope, int size);
1154
1155/* Destroys the gbarrier */
1156void $gbarrier_destroy($gbarrier barrier);
1157
1158/* Creates a new local barrier object and returns a handle to it.
1159 * The new barrier will be affiliated with the specified global
1160 * barrier. This local barrier handle will be used as an
1161 * argument in most barrier functions. The place must be in
1162 * [0,size-1] and specifies the place in the global barrier
1163 * that will be occupied by the local barrier.
1164 * Only one call to $barrier_create may occur for each barrier-place pair.
1165 * The new object will be allocated in the given scope. */
1166$barrier $barrier_create($scope scope, $gbarrier gbarrier, int place);
1167
1168/* Calls the barrier associated with this local barrier object.*/
1169void $barrier_call($barrier barrier);
1170
1171/* Destroys the barrier. */
1172void $barrier_destroy($barrier barrier);
1173\end{verbatim}
1174 \end{small}
1175 \caption{The \emph{barrier} interface specifies handle
1176 types $\cgbarrier$ and $\cbarrier$ and the functions above}
1177 \label{fig:barrier}
1178\end{figure}
1179
1180The barrier interface is given in Fig.\ \ref{fig:barrier}.
1181
1182\chapter{Specification}
1183
1184\section{Overview}
1185
1186Specification is the means by which one expresses what a program is
1187supposed to do, i.e., what it means for it to be correct.
1188
1189There are several specification mechanisms in CIVL-C. First, there are
1190the default properties: these are generic properties which are checked
1191by default in any program, and require no additional specification
1192effort. These properties include absence of deadlocks, division by 0,
1193illegal pointer dereferences, and out of bounds array indexes.
1194
1195Many more program-specific properties can be specified using
1196assertions. CIVL-C has a rich assertion language which extends the
1197language of boolean-valued C expressions. Assumptions are a
1198specification dual to assertions in that they restrict the set
1199of executions on which the assertions are checked.
1200
1201Functional equivalence is a power specification mechanism. In this
1202approach, two programs are provided, one playing the role of the
1203specification, the other the role of the implementation. The
1204implementation is correct if, for all inputs $x$, it produces the same
1205output as that produced by the specification on input $x$. In other
1206words, the two programs define the same function; this is sometimes
1207known as \emph{input-output equivalence}. In order to take this
1208approach, one must first have a way to specify what the inputs and
1209outputs of a programs are; CIVL-C provides special keywords for this.
1210
1211Procedure contracts are another powerful specification mechanisms.
1212These typically involve specifying preconditions and postconditions
1213for a function. The function is correct if, whenever it is called in a
1214state satisfying the precondition, when it returns the state will
1215satsify the postcondition. A program is correct if all its functions
1216satsify their contract.
1217
1218\section{Input-output signature}
1219
1220\subsection{Input type qualifier: \cinput}
1221
1222The declaration of a variable in the root scope may
1223include the type qualifier \cinput, e.g.,
1224\begin{verbatim}
1225 $input int n;
1226\end{verbatim}
1227This declares the variable to be an input variable, i.e., one which is
1228considered to be an input to the program. Such a variable is
1229initialized with an arbitrary (unconstrained) value of its type. When
1230using symbolic execution to verify a program, such a variable will be
1231assigned a unique symbolic constant of its type.
1232
1233In contrast, variables in the root scope which are not input variables
1234will instead be initialized with the ``undefined'' value. If an
1235undefined value is used in some way (such as in an argument to an
1236operator), an error occurs.
1237
1238In addition, input variables may only be read, never written to.
1239
1240Alternatively, it is also possible to specify a particular concrete
1241initial value for an input variable. This is done using a command
1242line argument when verifying or running the program.
1243
1244Input (and output) variables also play a key role when determining
1245whether two programs are functionally equivalent. Two programs are
1246considered functionally equivalent if, whenever they are given the
1247same inputs (i.e., corresponding \cinput{} variables are initialized
1248with the same values) they will produce the same outputs (i.e.,
1249corresponding \coutput{} variables will end up with the same values at
1250termination).
1251
1252\subsection{Output type qualifier: \coutput}
1253
1254A variable in the root scope may be declared with this type qualifier
1255to declare it to be an output variable. Output variables are ``dual''
1256to input variables. They may only be written to, never read. They
1257are used primarily in functional equivalence checking.
1258
1259\section{Assertions and assumptions}
1260
1261\subsection{Assertions: \cassert}
1262
1263The system function \cassert{} takes an argument of boolean type:
1264\begin{verbatim}
1265 void $assert (_Bool expr);
1266\end{verbatim}
1267During verification, the assertion is checked. If it cannot be proved
1268that it must hold, a violation is reported.
1269
1270Note that CIVL-C boolean expressions have a richer syntax than C
1271expressions, and may include universal or existential quantifiers
1272(see below), and the boolean values \ctrue{} and \cfalse{}.
1273
1274The assertion function may take additional optional arguments used to
1275print a specific message if the assertion is violated. These
1276additional arguments are similar in form to those used in C's
1277\texttt{printf} statement: a format string, followed by some number of
1278arguments which are evaluated and substituted for successive codes in
1279the format string. For example,
1280\begin{verbatim}
1281 $assert(x<=B, "x-coordinate %f exceeds bound %f", x, B);
1282\end{verbatim}
1283
1284The C function \texttt{assert}, included in the standard library
1285\texttt{assert.h}, is identical to \cassert. Programmers are
1286free to use either one.
1287
1288
1289\subsection{Assume statements: \cassume}
1290
1291As \emph{assume statement} has the form
1292\begin{verbatim}
1293 $assume expr;
1294\end{verbatim}
1295During verification, the assumed expression is assumed to hold. If
1296this leads to a contradiction on some execution, that execution is
1297simply ignored. It never reports a violation, it only restricts the
1298set of possible executions that will be explored by the verification
1299algorithm.
1300
1301Like as assertion statement, as assume statement can be used any place
1302a statement is expected. In addition, as assume statement can be used
1303in file scope to place restrictions on the global variables of the
1304programs. For example,
1305\begin{verbatim}
1306$input int B;
1307$input int N;
1308$assume 0<=N && N<=B;
1309\end{verbatim}
1310declares \texttt{N} and \texttt{B} to be integer inputs and restricts
1311consideration to inputs satisfying $0\leq\texttt{N}\leq\texttt{B}$.
1312
1313
1314\section{Formulas}
1315
1316A formula is a boolean expression that can be used in an assert
1317statement, assume statement, procedure contract (below), or invariant.
1318Any ordinary C boolean expression is a formula. CIVL-C provides some
1319additional kinds of formulas, described below.
1320
1321\subsection{Implication: \cimplies}
1322
1323The binary operation \cimplies{} represents logical implication.
1324The expression \verb!p=>q! is equivalent to \verb~(!p)||q~.
1325
1326\subsection{Universal quantifier: \cforall}
1327
1328The universally qunatified formula has the form
1329\begin{verbatim}
1330 $forall { type identifier | restriction} expr
1331\end{verbatim}
1332where \verb!type! is a type name (e.g., \texttt{int} or
1333\texttt{double}), \verb!identifier! is the name of the bound variable,
1334\verb!restriction! is a boolean expression which expresses some
1335restriction on the values that the bound variable can take, and
1336\verb!expr! is a formula. The universally quantified formula
1337holds iff for all values assignable to the bound variable
1338for which the restriction holds, the formula \ct{expr} holds.
1339
1340A variation on the construct above can be used in the special case
1341where the bound variable is to range over a finite interval
1342of integers. In this case the quantified formula may be written:
1343\begin{verbatim}
1344 $forall { type identifier=lower .. upper } expr
1345\end{verbatim}
1346where \ct{lower} and \ct{upper} are integer expressions.
1347
1348\subsection{Existential quantifier: \cexists}
1349
1350The syntax for existentially quantified expressions is exactly the
1351same as for universally quantified expressions, with \cexists{} in
1352place of \cforall{}.
1353
1354\section{Contracts}
1355
1356\subsection{Procedure contracts: \crequires{} and \censures{}}
1357The \crequires{} and \censures{} primitives are used to encode
1358procedure contracts. There are optional
1359elements that may occur in a procedure declaration or definition,
1360as follows. For a function prototype:
1361\begin{verbatim}
1362 T f(...)
1363 $requires expr;
1364 $ensures expr;
1365 ;
1366\end{verbatim}
1367For a function definition:
1368\begin{verbatim}
1369 T f(...)
1370 $requires expr;
1371 $ensures expr;
1372 {
1373 ...
1374 }
1375\end{verbatim}
1376The value \cresult{} may be used in post-conditions to refer
1377to the result returned by a procedure.
1378
1379\emph{Status}: parsed, but nothing is currently done with this
1380information.
1381
1382\subsection{Loop invariants: \cinvariant}
1383
1384This indicates a loop invariant. Each C loop
1385construct has an optional invariant clause as follows:
1386\begin{verbatim}
1387 while (expr) $invariant (expr) stmt
1388 for (e1; e2; e3) $invariant (expr) stmt
1389 do stmt while (expr) $invariant (expr) ;
1390\end{verbatim}
1391The invariant encodes the claim that if \texttt{expr} holds upon
1392entering the loop and the loop condition holds, then it will hold
1393after completion of execution of the loop body. The invariant is used
1394by certain verification techniques.
1395
1396\emph{Status:} parsed, but nothing is currently done with this
1397information.
1398
1399\section{Concurrency specification}
1400
1401\subsection{Remote expressions: \texttt{e@x}}.
1402
1403These have the form \verb!expr@x! and refer to a variable in another
1404process, e.g., \verb!procs[i]@x!. This special kind of expression is
1405used in collective expressions, which are used to formulate collective
1406assertions and invariants.
1407
1408The expression \verb!expr! must have \cproc{} type. The variable
1409\texttt{x} must be a statically visible variable in the context in
1410which it is occurs. When this expression is evaluated, the evaluation
1411context will be shifted to the process referred to by \texttt{expr}.
1412
1413\emph{Status}: not implemented.
1414
1415\subsection{Collective expressions: \ccollective}. These have the form
1416\begin{verbatim}
1417 $collective(proc_expr, int_expr) expr
1418\end{verbatim}
1419This is a collective expression over a set of processes. The
1420expression \texttt{proc{\U}expr} yields a pointer to the first element
1421of an array of \cproc. The expression \texttt{int{\U}expr} gives the
1422length of that array, i.e., the number of processes. Expression
1423\texttt{expr} is a boolean-valued expression; it may use remote
1424expressions to refer to variables in the processes specified in the
1425array. Example:
1426\begin{verbatim}
1427 $proc procs[N];
1428 ...
1429 $assert $collective(procs, N) i==procs[(pid+1)%N]@i ;
1430\end{verbatim}
1431
1432\emph{Status}: not implemented.
1433
1434\chapter{Pointers and Heaps}
1435\label{chap:pointers}
1436
1437CIVL-C supports pointers, using the same operators with the same
1438meanings as C (\texttt{\&}, \texttt{*}, pointer arithmetic). There is
1439also a heap in every scope, and system functions to allocate and
1440deallocate objects in the specified scope.
1441
1442\section{Memory functions: \texttt{memcpy}}
1443
1444The function \texttt{memcpy} is defined in the standard C library
1445\texttt{string.h} and works exactly the same in CIVL-C: it copies
1446data from the region pointed to by \ct{q} to that pointed to by
1447\ct{p}. The signature is
1448
1449\begin{verbatim}
1450 void memcpy(void *p, void *q, size_t size);
1451\end{verbatim}
1452
1453\section{Heaps, \cmalloc{} and \cfree}
1454
1455As mentioned above, each dynamic scope has an implicit heap on which
1456objects can be allocated and deallocated dynamically. To allocate an
1457object, one first needs a reference to the dynamic scope to be used.
1458The system function $\cmalloc$ is like C's \texttt{malloc}, but takes
1459this extra scope argument:
1460\begin{verbatim}
1461 void * $malloc($scope scope, int size);
1462\end{verbatim}
1463The standard C function
1464\begin{verbatim}
1465 void * malloc(int size);
1466\end{verbatim}
1467declared in \texttt{stdlib.h}, is equivalent to \verb!$malloc($root, size)!.
1468
1469The system function \cfree{} is used to deallocate a heap object;
1470it is just like C's \texttt{free}:
1471\begin{verbatim}
1472 void $free(void *p);
1473\end{verbatim}
1474An error is generated if the pointer is not one that was returned by
1475\cmalloc, or if it was already freed. The standard C function
1476\texttt{free}, declared in \texttt{stdlib.h} is identical to \cfree.
1477The two functions are interchangeable.
1478
1479% \section{Pointer types}
1480
1481% Given any object type $T$ and a static scope $s$ in a CIVL-C program,
1482% there is a type \emph{pointer-to-$T$-in-$s$}. The type is used to
1483% represent a pointer to a memory location of type $T$ in scope $s$ or a
1484% descendant of $s$ (i.e., some scope contained in $s$).
1485
1486% If scope $s_1$ is a descendant of $s_2$ (i.e., $s_1$ is lexically
1487% contained in $s_2$), the type \emph{pointer-to-$T$-in-$s_1$} is a
1488% subtype of \emph{pointer-to-$T$-in-$s_2$}. This means that any
1489% expression of the first type can be used wherever an object of the
1490% second type is expected. In particular, any expression $e$ of the
1491% subtype can be assigned to a left-hand-side expression of the
1492% supertype without explicit casts; also $e$ can be used as an argument
1493% to a function for which the corresponding parameter has the supertype.
1494
1495% The syntax for denoting this type adheres to the usual C syntax for
1496% denoting the type \emph{pointer-to-$T$} with the addition of a scope
1497% parameter within angular brackets immediately following the \texttt{*}
1498% token. For example, to declare a variable \texttt{p} of type
1499% \emph{pointer-to-$T$-in-$s$}, one writes
1500% \begin{verbatim}
1501% int *<s> p;
1502% \end{verbatim}
1503% If the scope modifier \texttt{<...>} is absent, the scope is taken to
1504% be the root scope $s_0$. The object has type
1505% \emph{pointer-to-$T$-in-$s_0$}, which is abreviated as
1506% \emph{pointer-to-$T$}. In this way, stanard C programs can be
1507% interpreted as CIVL-C programs.
1508
1509% \section{Address-of operator}
1510
1511% The address-of operator \texttt{\&} returns a pointer of the
1512% appropriate subtype using the innermost scope in which its left-hand-side
1513% argument is declared. For example
1514
1515% \begin{verbatim}
1516% {
1517% $scope s1 = $here();
1518% int x;
1519% double a[N];
1520% int *<s1> p = &x;
1521% double *<s1> q = &a[2];
1522% }
1523% \end{verbatim}
1524% is correct (in particular, it is type-correct) because \texttt{\&x}
1525% has type \emph{pointer-to-\texttt{int}-in-\texttt{s1}}, since
1526% \texttt{s1} is the scope in which \texttt{x} is declared.
1527
1528% Another pointer example:
1529% \begin{small}
1530% \begin{verbatim}
1531% { $scope s0 = $here();
1532% { $scope s1 = $here();
1533% double x;
1534% { $scope s2 = $here();
1535% double y;
1536% double *<s1> p;
1537% /* p can only point to something in s1 or descendant, for example, s2 */
1538% p = &x; // fine
1539% p = &y; // fine
1540% p = (double*)$malloc(s0, 10*sizeof(double)); // static type error
1541% }
1542% }
1543% }
1544% \end{verbatim}
1545% \end{small}
1546
1547% \section{Pointer addition and subtractions}
1548
1549% If \texttt{e} is an expression of type \emph{pointer-to-$T$-in-$s$}
1550% and \texttt{i} is an expression of integer type then \texttt{e+i} also
1551% has type \emph{pointer-to-$T$-in-$s$}. In other words, pointer
1552% addition cannot leave the scope of the original pointer. This
1553% reflects the fact that every object is contained in one scope, and
1554% pointer addition cannot leave the object.
1555
1556% Pointer subtraction is defined on two pointers of the same type, where
1557% ``same'' includes the scope. That is checked statically. As in C, it
1558% is only defined if the two pointers point to the same object. In
1559% CIVL-C, a runtime error will be thrown if they do not point to the
1560% same object.
1561
1562% \section{Semantics of scopes and pointer types}
1563
1564% A variable of type \cscope{} is treated like any other variable.
1565% It becomes part of the state when the scope in which it is declared
1566% is instantiated to form a dynamic scope. The variable is
1567% initialized at that time and its value cannot change.
1568
1569% Each time a dynamic scope is instantiated, it is assigned a unique ID
1570% number. The exactly value of the ID number is not relevant, it just
1571% has to be distince from any other scope ID number that currently
1572% exists in the state. This is the value that is assigned to the scope
1573% variable. Therefore, if a static scope contains a scope variable, and
1574% that scope is instantiated twice to form two distinct dynamic scopes,
1575% the values assigned to the two variables will be distinct.
1576
1577% A pointer value is an ordered pair $\langle \delta,r \rangle$, where
1578% $\delta$ is a dynamic scope ID and $r$ is a reference to a memory
1579% location in the static scope associated to $\delta$. (We will define
1580% the exact form of a reference later.)
1581
1582% When a dynamic scope is instantiated, each new variable created is
1583% assigned a \emph{dynamic type}. This is a refinement of the static
1584% type associated to the static variable. Every dynamic type
1585% is an instance of exactly one static type. The dynamic
1586% type of the newly instantiated variable is an instance of the
1587% static type of the static variable.
1588
1589% The dynamic pointer types have the form
1590% \emph{pointer-to-$t$-in-$\delta$}, where $t$ is a dynamic type and
1591% $\delta$ is a dynamic scope ID. For a program to be dynamically type
1592% safe, such a variable should hold only values of the form $\langle
1593% \delta, r\rangle$. In particular, the variable should never be
1594% assigned a value where the dynamic scope component is a different
1595% instance of the static scope $s$ associated to $\delta$.
1596
1597% \section{Pointer casts}
1598
1599% If scope $s_1$ is contained in scope $s_2$, an expression of type
1600% \emph{pointer-to-$T$-in-$s_1$} can always be cast to
1601% \emph{pointer-to-$T$-in-$s_2$},
1602% because the first is a subtype of the second. (As described above,
1603% the cast is unnecessary.)
1604
1605% The cast in the other direction is also allowed, but the dynamic type
1606% safety of that cast will only be checked at runtime. In particular, a
1607% runtime error will result if the cast attempts to cast the pointer
1608% value to a dynamic scope which does not contain (is an ancestor of)
1609% the dynamic scope component of the pointer value.
1610
1611% A type \emph{pointer-to-$T_1$-in-$s$} can be cast to a type
1612% \emph{pointer-to-$T_2$-in-$s$} according to the usual rules of C. In
1613% other words, usual casting rules apply as long as you don't change the
1614% scope.
1615
1616% \section{Scope-Parameterized Functions}
1617
1618% Coming soon. (Parsed, type checked, not currently used otherwise.)
1619
1620% \section{Scope-Parameterized Type Definitions}
1621
1622% Coming soon. (Ditto.)
1623
1624\chapter{Libraries}
1625
1626Each of the following libraries is at least partially implemented and can
1627be included in a CIVL-C program:
1628\begin{itemize}
1629\item \ct{assert}
1630 \begin{itemize}
1631 \item \verb!void assert(_Bool expr);!
1632 \end{itemize}
1633\item \ct{math}
1634 \begin{itemize}
1635 \item \verb!double sqrt(double x);!
1636 \item \verb!double ceil(double x);!
1637 \item \verb!double exp(double x);!
1638 \end{itemize}
1639\item \ct{stdlib}
1640 \begin{itemize}
1641 \item \verb!size_t!
1642 \item \verb!void * malloc(size_t size);!
1643 \item \verb!void free(void * ptr);!
1644 \end{itemize}
1645\item \ct{stdbool}
1646 \begin{itemize}
1647 \item \verb!true!
1648 \item \verb!false!
1649 \end{itemize}
1650\item \ct{stddef}
1651 \begin{itemize}
1652 \item \verb!size_t!
1653 \item \verb!NULL!
1654 \end{itemize}
1655\item \ct{stdio}
1656 \begin{itemize}
1657 \item \verb!int printf(const char * restrict format, ...);!
1658 \end{itemize}
1659\item \ct{string}
1660 \begin{itemize}
1661 \item \verb!size_t!
1662 \item \verb!NULL!
1663 \item \verb!void memcpy(void * restrict dst, const void * restrict src, size_t n);!
1664 \end{itemize}
1665\end{itemize}
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