Building High Integrity Applications with SPARK

This is the first introduction to the SPARK 2014 language and the tools to verify programs for safety- and security-critical applications.

John W. McCormick (Author), Peter C. Chapin (Author)

9781107040731, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 31 August 2015

382 pages, 13 b/w illus. 14 tables 119 exercises
23.6 x 15.6 x 2.4 cm, 0.64 kg

Software is pervasive in our lives. We are accustomed to dealing with the failures of much of that software - restarting an application is a very familiar solution. Such solutions are unacceptable when the software controls our cars, airplanes and medical devices or manages our private information. These applications must run without error. SPARK provides a means, based on mathematical proof, to guarantee that a program has no errors. SPARK is a formally defined programming language and a set of verification tools specifically designed to support the development of software used in high integrity applications. Using SPARK, developers can formally verify properties of their code such as information flow, freedom from runtime errors, functional correctness, security properties and safety properties. Written by two SPARK experts, this is the first introduction to the just-released 2014 version. It will help students and developers alike master the basic concepts for building systems with SPARK.

1. Introduction and overview
2. The basic SPARK language
3. Programming in the large
4. Dependency contracts
5. Mathematical background
6. Proof
7. Interfacing with SPARK
8. Software engineering with SPARK
9. Advanced techniques.

Subject Areas: Software Engineering [UMZ], Programming & scripting languages: general [UMX], Business applications [UF], Information technology: general issues [UB]