Binary Heaps Formally Verified in Why3
Asma Tafat, Claude Marché · INRIA a CCSD electronic archive server · 2011
The VACID-0 benchmarks is a set of small programs which pose challenges for formal verification of their functional behavior. This paper reports on the formal verification of one of these challenges: binary heaps. The solution given here is performed using the Why3 environment for program verification. The expected behavior of the program is specified in Why3 logic, structured using the constructs for building hierarchies of theories provided by Why3. The proofs are achieved by a significant amount of automation, using SMT solvers for a large majority of the verification conditions generated, whereas the remaining verification conditions are discharged by interactive constructions of proof scripts using the Coq proof assistant. The general aim of this case study is to demonstrate the usability and efficiency of both the Why3 specification language and the accompanying tools, which offer a fairly advanced environment for specification while keeping a significant amount of automation of proofs.