Formal Derivation of a Distributed Program in Event B

Abstract

Achieving high dependability of distributed systems remains a major challenge due to complexity arising from concurrency and communication. There are a number of formal approaches to verification of properties of distributed algorithms. However, there is still a lack of methods that enable a transition from a verified formal model of communication to a program that faithfully implements it. In this paper we aim at bridging this gap by proposing a state-based formal approach to correct-by-construction development of distributed programs. In our approach we take a systems view, i.e., formally model not only application but also its environment. We decompose such an integrated specification to obtain the distributed program that should be deployed on the targeted network infrastructure. To illustrate our approach, we present a development of a distributed leader election protocol.