The R+D Group MiST
(MultI-paradigm Software Technology)
Project MERIT
(Rigorous methods for mobile and heterogeneous software systems)
December 31, 2005 - December 30, 2008 (3 years)
Summary
In accordance with the main objectives of the Spanish I+D National
Plan, the goal of this project is to contribute to the understanding
of systems and tools for the rapid development of reliable
software. In more general terms, the project will contribute to
the application of formal or rigorous methods, especially logic-based
techniques, to the real needs of programming languages and the process
of software development. We will mainly focus our efforts on the need
for special methodologies for the development of trusted software for
mobile computing. In this context issues related to heterogeneous and
distributed systems, with specific characteristics and limited
resources dealing with data that is heterogeneous both in terms of
content and representation, are of great interest. To satisfy this
need, we propose the enriching of languages and methods of declarative
(multi-paradigm) programming. This ambitious project will focus on
the development of new tools, languages, and environments which will
give automatic support for specification, analysis, debugging,
manipulation and optimization of systems of heterogeneous software,
all based upon a rigorous formal base. To accomplish this goal the
research team brings with it broad experience with formal methods in
the area of programming languages. The contributions of this project
will mainly center around the following themes:
Distribution models with the implicit use of certificates
which guarantee the trustworthiness of mobile code.
Technologies for proving complex functional properties
and resource requirements through abstract interpretation.
Rigorous methods that permit the optimization of programs
for execution on different systems with different available
resources.
New methods that combine constraint solvers and decision
procedures.
Formal techniques for analysis and debugging and their
combination into integrated environments.
New frameworks for the design of domain-specific languages embedded
into declarative languages.
The design of new languages and tools for modelling dynamic concurrent
systems and for querying and manipulating semi-structured data.
The proposed research will produce both theoretical and practical
results. On the one hand, the theoretical component, coupled with the
semantics of the programming languages being considered, will provide
a strong formal base for the systems which will be developed. On the
other hand, the practical component, essential in the field in which
we work, will manifest itself in the implementation of a number of
tools and environments for the construction of robust and reliable
software.
This project is a coordinated proposal including three different research
groups spread throughout four Spanish universities along with the
collaboration of seven researchers from foreign centers. All of these
participants have a great deal of experience in research, development
and innovation in the field of programming languages and formal methods.