Kernel equivalence of programs and proving kernel equivalence and correctness by test cases
Terrence W. Pratt · International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence · 1971
The in a program may be classified as statements if they participate directly in the computation of some output and as statements if they participate directly in deciding the control path at branch points. Two programs are kernel equivalent if they always execute identical sequences of kernel given the same inputs. Kernel equivalence is defined formally and is shown to be practically decidable in many cases by a procedure of trying test cases. The concept of program kernel may also be used as a basis for proving correctness of programs.