Towards Verifying VDM Using SPIN

The Vienna Development Method (VDM) is a formal method that supports modeling and analysis of software systems at various levels of abstraction. Case studies have shown that applying VDM, or formal specification, in general, in software development processes is the key to achieving high-quality software development. However, to derive full benefit from the use of VDM in software development, associative activities such as validating and verifying VDM models are crucial. Since the primary way of verifying a VDM model is specification animation, we aim to utilize the animation feature of VDM to apply model checking techniques. In this paper, we propose an approach to supporting model check VDM models by constructing a hybrid verification model combining VDMJ, a VDM interpreter, and SPIN, one of the most popular model checkers, especially in practical use. Two case studies are reported, and the usability, scalability, and efficiency of our approach are discussed.