15-818A3 Introduction to Separation Logic (6 units) Spring 2011

John C. Reynolds

University Units: 6 (minicourse)

Gates-Hillman Center 4211

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 12:30 pm-1:20 pm

Course Description

More generally, the logic provides a "frame rule", which enables local reasoning that is the key to the scalability of proofs. Examples of nontrivial proofs include the Schorr-Waite marking algorithm and the Cheney relocating garbage collector.

Recently, by generalizing the concept of storage access to ownership and permissions, the logic has been extended to encompass information hiding, shared-variable concurrency, and numerical permissions.

We will survey the current development of separation logic, including, as time permits, extensions to unrestricted address arithmetic, dynamically allocated arrays, recursive procedures, shared-variable concurrency, and read-only sharing.

PREREQUISITES: Some knowledge of predicate logic and Hoare logic.

TEXTS: Papers and notes to be distributed in class.

METHOD OF EVALUATION: Grading will be based on homework.

For an overview of separation logic, see the first chapter and bibliography of the course notes below.

NOTICES

The class times and room are now definite.

Exercises 2.1 and 2.2 are due on January 26.

Exercises 3.1 and 3.3 are due on February 9.

Exercises 4.3, 4.4, and 4.5 are due on February 21

Exercise 5.1 is due on February 28

Course Notes (in PDF)

Videos

Last updated: August 7, 2011