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The effect of uncontrolled concurrency on model checking
Author(s) -
Carter Donna M.,
Aygun Ramazan,
Cox Glenn,
Weisskopf Mary Ellen,
Etzkorn Letha
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
concurrency and computation: practice and experience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.309
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1532-0634
pISSN - 1532-0626
DOI - 10.1002/cpe.1265
Subject(s) - model checking , concurrency , computer science , correctness , promela , programming language , abstraction , programmer , state (computer science) , abstraction model checking , theoretical computer science , atomicity , synchronization (alternating current) , software , distributed computing , philosophy , epistemology , computer network , channel (broadcasting) , database transaction
Correctness of concurrent software is usually checked by techniques such as peer code reviews or code walkthroughs and testing. These techniques, however, are subject to human error, and thus do not achieve an in‐depth verification of correctness. Model‐checking techniques, which can systematically identify and verify every state that a system can enter, are a powerful alternative method for verifying concurrent systems. However, the usefulness of model checking is limited because the number of states for concurrent models grows exponentially with the number of processes in the system. This is often referred to as the ‘state explosion problem.’ Some processes are a central part of the software operation and must be included in the model. However, we have found that some exponential complexity results due to uncontrolled concurrency introduced by the programmer rather than due to the intrinsic characteristics of the software being modeled. We have performed tests on multimedia synchronization to show the effect of abstraction as well as uncontrolled concurrency using the Promela/SPIN model checker. We begin with a sequential model not expected to have exponential complexity but that results in exponential complexity. In this paper, we provide alternative designs and explain how uncontrolled concurrency can be removed from the code. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.