The Secd Microprocessor

The SECD Microprocessor

This is a milestone in machine-assisted microprocessor verification. Gordon [20] and Hunt [32] led the way with their verifications of sim ple designs, Cohn [12, 13] followed this with the verification of parts of the VIPER microprocessor. This work illustrates how much these, and other, pioneers achieved in developing tractable models, scalable tools, and a robust methodology. A condensed review of previous re search, emphasising the behavioural model underlying this style of verification is followed by a careful, and remarkably readable, ac count of the SECD architecture, its formalisation, and a report on the organisation and execution of the automated correctness proof in HOL. This monograph reports on Graham's MSc project, demonstrat ing that - in the right hands - the tools and methodology for formal verification can (and therefore should?) now be applied by someone with little previous expertise in formal methods, to verify a non-trivial microprocessor in a limited timescale. This is not to belittle Graham's achievement; the production of this proof, work ing as Graham did from the previous literature, goes well beyond a typical MSc project. The achievement is that, with this exposition to hand, an engineer tackling the verification of similar microprocessor designs will have a clear view of the milestones that must be passed on the way, and of the methods to be applied to achieve them.

Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office

Microprocessor Programming and Applications for Scientists and Engineers

Microprocessor Programming and Applications for Scientists and Engineers