Kernel equivalence of programs and proving kernel equivalence and correctness by test cases

  • Authors:

  • Terrence W. Pratt

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Texas, Austin, Texas

  • Venue:
  • IJCAI'71 Proceedings of the 2nd international joint conference on Artificial intelligence
  • Year:
  • 1971

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Abstract

The statements in a program may be classified as "kernel statements" if they participate directly in the computation of some output and as "control 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 statements 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.