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Department of Computer Science


Formal Semantics of the Perfect Language

Primary supervisor

Additional information

Contact admissions office

Other projects with the same supervisor

Funding

  • Competition Funded Project (Students Worldwide)

This research project is one of a number of projects at this institution. It is in competition for funding with one or more of these projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be awarded the funding. Applications for this project are welcome from suitably qualified candidates worldwide. Funding may only be available to a limited set of nationalities and you should read the full department and project details for further information.

Project description

Perfect Developer, from Escher Technologies, is a language system that combines specification constructs, programming constructs, code generation and verification. When a source file is committed, not only is it analysed for soundness and completeness for code generation purposes, but also a collection of verification conditions are generated that can subsequently be offered to the verification system to establish correctness with respect to the invariants and assertions contained in the source. The verification conditions are generated with respect to traditionally accepted notions of the correctness of programming and specification constructs, rather than being derived from a formal semantics. The aim of this project is to investigate the formal semantics of the Perfect language, and to reconcile verification conditions generated thereby with those generated by the Perfect Developer system.

Person specification

For information

Essential

Applicants will be required to evidence the following skills and qualifications.

  • This project requires mathematical engagement and ability substantially greater than for a typical Computer Science PhD. Give evidence for appropriate competence, as relevant to the project description.
  • You must be capable of performing at a very high level.
  • You must have a self-driven interest in uncovering and solving unknown problems and be able to work hard and creatively without constant supervision.

Desirable

Applicants will be required to evidence the following skills and qualifications.

  • You will have good time management.
  • You will possess determination (which is often more important than qualifications) although you'll need a good amount of both.

General

Applicants will be required to address the following.

  • Comment on your transcript/predicted degree marks, outlining both strong and weak points.
  • Discuss your final year Undergraduate project work - and if appropriate your MSc project work.
  • How well does your previous study prepare you for undertaking Postgraduate Research?
  • Why do you believe you are suitable for doing Postgraduate Research?