Transition-Oriented Programming: Developing Provably Correct Systems

Abstract: Correctness is a necessary condition for systems to be effective in meeting human demands, thus playing a critical role in system development. However, correctness often manifests as a nebulous concept in practice, leading to challenges in accurately creating specifications, effectively proving correctness satisfiability, and efficiently implementing correct systems. Motivated by tackling these challenges, this paper introduces Transition-Oriented Programming (TOP), a programming paradigm to facilitate the development of provably correct systems by intertwining correctness specification, verification, and implementation within a unified theoretical framework.