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Creators/Authors contains: "Hallahan, William T"

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  1. Modular verification tools allow programmers to compositionally specify and prove function specifications. When using a modular verifier, proving a specification about a functionfrequires additional specifications for the functions called byf. With existing state of the art tools, programmers must manually write the specifications for callee functions. We present a counterexample guided algorithm to automatically infer these specifications. The algorithm is parameterized over a verifier, counterexample generator, and constraint guided synthesizer. We show that if each of these three components is sound and complete over a finite set of possible specifications, our algorithm is sound and complete as well. Additionally, we introducesize-boundedsynthesis functions, which extends our completeness result to an infinite set of possible specifications. In particular, we describe a size-bounded synthesis function for linear integer arithmetic constraints. We conclude with an evaluation demonstrating our technique on a variety of benchmarks. When using a modular verifier, proving a specification about a functionfrequires additional specifications for the functions called byf. With existing state of the art tools, programmers must manually write the specifications for callee functions. We present a counterexample guided algorithm to automatically infer these specifications. The algorithm is parameterized over a verifier, counterexample generator, and constraint guided synthesizer. We show that if each of these three components is sound and complete over a finite set of possible specifications, our algorithm is sound and complete as well. Additionally, we introducesize-boundedsynthesis functions, which extends our completeness result to an infinite set of possible specifications. In particular, we describe a size-bounded synthesis function for linear integer arithmetic constraints. We conclude with an evaluation demonstrating our technique on a variety of benchmarks. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 9, 2026
  2. Program equivalence checking is the task of confirming that two programs have the same behavior on corresponding inputs. We develop a calculus based on symbolic execution and coinduction to check the equivalence of programs in a non-strict functional language. Additionally, we show that our calculus can be used to derive counterexamples for pairs of inequivalent programs, including counterexamples that arise from non-termination. We describe a fully automated approach for finding both equivalence proofs and counterexamples. Our implementation, Nebula, proves equivalences of programs written in Haskell. We demonstrate Nebula's practical effectiveness at both proving equivalence and producing counterexamples automatically by applying Nebula to existing benchmark properties. 
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