Title :
Defining software by continuous, smooth functions
Author :
Demillo, Richard A. ; Lipton, Richard J.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. Sci., Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN, USA
fDate :
4/1/1991 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
A simple proof is given, showing that for every operational description of a software system expressed as a discrete state transition function on a virtual machine, there is a continuous smooth function on the reals that agrees with the state transition function on all legal states and has exactly the same complexity. It is suggested that an implication of this result is that there is no reason, in principle, that the methods of classical analysis cannot be used in software engineering
Keywords :
computational complexity; software engineering; classical analysis; complexity; continuous smooth function; discrete state transition function; legal states; software engineering; software system; virtual machine; Control systems; Law; Legal factors; Logic; Mathematical analysis; Mathematics; Software engineering; Software systems; State-space methods; Virtual machining;
Journal_Title :
Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on