Last time I started discussing the expression language used to define predicates on types and members. My conclusions were:

• C# expression syntax used since code must be transformed to that in the end, and the more similar the syntaxes of the expression language - the easier the transformation will be.
• No side-effects. Side effect within the predicates complicate the tasks of determining whether a temporal comparison is actually effective. If the snapshots can't be guaranteed to be faithful representations of the state before and after the test, then you can't trust the tests, and you might as well not have bothered with them in the first place.
• Pragmas, or pre-processor messages, are used in expressions to add a temporal ability to the predicates. $before(foo) allows a snapshot of the variable foo to be taken for later comparison with the exit state.
• Pragmas may map to identity in some circumstances. Entry states can have no $after() since we haven't reached the exit state yet. Likewise, there is no notion $before() state since this is the before state, and we can't take a snapshot of the state before the before state (unless it's on some other superior method). Therefore, in a precondition it should be illegal to insert pragmas into predicate expressions. In some cases such as $before(foo) in a precondition, and $after(bar) in a post condition the pragmas map onto the current value of the variable. i.e. in a post condition $after(bar) can be transformed into bar.

The algorithm for converting predicates to guard code is shown below.

foreach assembly in assembly list
  foreach type in assembly
    clear list of invariance predicates
    clear list of processed methods
    foreach invariant attribute on type
      transform pragmas on predicate
      add pre/post analysis objs to list
      generate code for predicate
      append code to processedInvariants list
    end foreach invariant
    foreach member in type
      clear list of requires attrs
      foreach requires attr on member
        transform pragmas on predicate
        add pre/post analysis objs to list
        generate code for predicate
        append code to processedRequires list
      end foreach requires attr
      clear list of ensures attrs
      foreach ensures attr on member
        transform pragmas on predicate
        extract list of vars to be snapshot
        add to list processedSnapshots
        add pre/post analysis objs to list
        generate code for predicate
        append code to processedEnsures list
      end foreach ensures attr
      insert snapshots into code template
      insert pre/post analysis objs to template
      insert code for requires guards into template
      insert code for ensures guards into template
      generate code
      add generated code to processed methods list
    end foreach member
    insert code for members into type template
    clear list of invariance predicates
    generate code for type
    append code to processed types list
  end foreach type
  setup c# compiler with config params
  compile all types in processed types list
  store assembly as per instructions
end foreach assembly 

This algorithm conveniently glosses over the complexities of the depth first search event propagation mechanism described in previous posts, but the outcome is the same ultimately.

¶ 4/26/2005 04:24:00 PM

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