Knowledge-Based Synthesis of Distributed Systems Using Event Structures

TL;DR

This paper presents a method for synthesizing distributed system programs from high-level knowledge-based specifications using formal proof systems, enabling automatic conversion to implementable protocols.

Contribution

It introduces a high-level specification language incorporating knowledge for distributed protocols and demonstrates how to synthesize and transform these specifications into executable protocols within Nuprl.

Findings

Successful synthesis of distributed protocols from knowledge-based specifications.

Application of proof tactics in Nuprl for protocol transformation.

Framework for high-level specification and automatic protocol generation.

Abstract

To produce a program guaranteed to satisfy a given specification one can synthesize it from a formal constructive proof that a computation satisfying that specification exists. This process is particularly effective if the specifications are written in a high-level language that makes it easy for designers to specify their goals. We consider a high-level specification language that results from adding knowledge to a fragment of Nuprl specifically tailored for specifying distributed protocols, called event theory. We then show how high-level knowledge-based programs can be synthesized from the knowledge-based specifications using a proof development system such as Nuprl. Methods of Halpern and Zuck then apply to convert these knowledge-based protocols to ordinary protocols. These methods can be expressed as heuristic transformation tactics in Nuprl.