Moderately Complex Paxos Made Simple: High-Level Specification of Distributed Algorithm.
Yanhong A. Liu, Saksham Chand, Scott D. Stoller · arXiv (Cornell University) · 2017
This paper presents simpler high-level specifications of more complex variants of the Paxos algorithm for distributed consensus. The development of the specifications is by using a method and language for expressing complex control flows and synchronization conditions precisely at a high level. The resulting specifications are both completely precise and fully executable in a programming language, and furthermore are formally verified using a proof system. We show that high-level specifications allow better understanding, faster error discovery, and easier optimization and extension, including a general method for merging processes.