SPEEDY: An Eclipse-based IDE for invariant inference

TL;DR

SPEEDY is an Eclipse-based IDE designed to facilitate invariant inference and specification generation for C programs, integrating various tools and automating processes to assist developers in formal methods tasks.

Contribution

The paper introduces SPEEDY, a novel IDE that integrates invariant inference algorithms and tools, providing a user-friendly environment for formal specification development in C.

Findings

Confirmed the importance of integrated specification editing and checking

Automated specification inference reduces developer effort

Direct counterexample display enhances debugging

Abstract

SPEEDY is an Eclipse-based IDE for exploring techniques that assist users in generating correct specifications, particularly including invariant inference algorithms and tools. It integrates with several back-end tools that propose invariants and will incorporate published algorithms for inferring object and loop invariants. Though the architecture is language-neutral, current SPEEDY targets C programs. Building and using SPEEDY has confirmed earlier experience demonstrating the importance of showing and editing specifications in the IDEs that developers customarily use, automating as much of the production and checking of specifications as possible, and showing counterexample information directly in the source code editing environment. As in previous work, automation of specification checking is provided by back-end SMT solvers. However, reducing the effort demanded of software developers using formal methods also requires a GUI design that guides users in writing, reviewing, and correcting specifications and automates specification inference.