Algorithmic specifications: a constructive specification method for abstract data types
ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems (TOPLAS)
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In this paper we discuss techniques of exploiting the obvious relationship between program structure and data structure for program generation. We develop methods of program specification that are derived from a representation of recursive data structures in the Logic for Computable Functions (LCF). As a step towards a formal problem specification language we define definitional extensions of LCF. These include a calculus for (computable) homogeneous sets and restricted quantification. Concepts that are obtained by interpreting data types as algebras are used to derive function definition schemes from an LCF term representing a data structure; they also lead to techniques for the simplification of expressions in the extended language. The specification methods are illustrated with a detailed example.