A COMPUTERIZED FORMAL MEANS TO REASON ABOUT COMPONENTS IN SIMULATION MODELS AND ENVIRONMENTS: Part Ⅰ: A Logic-Based Reasoning Methodology

摘要

The modeling and simulation enterprise is rapidly expanding due to an influx of ideas and methods from artificial intelligence and simulation theory. This paper proposes a blending of theory, a formal logic based reasoning system, with Al-inspired symbolic programming methodology to develop an executable formal reasoning system. The principal focus is on runnable specifications and includes topics such as the formal system's roots, its scope and purpose, how it works, and how it may evolve. With reliance on appendix material to relate the work to others' and to define both the modeling and the environment problems in a general purpose context, the paper addresses such topics as procedural and non-procedural modes of reasoning, a dual reasoning mode to provide a modeler-accommodating reasoning system, automatic and semi-automatic translation from requirements and prior implementations to specifications and from specifications to implementations. Logic and logic programming are joined by a system and software scheme we've developed to promote symbolic computation within a context of high level numerically strong languages and, equally important, to support modeling life cycle activities, e.g., specifications creation, testing, development and use. Much of the discussion motivates and is motivated by material covered in part Ⅱ of the paper. The ensemble of logic, life cycle, and software development theories spanning both parts of the paper constitutes a theory for. a "general purpose simulation environment" with an executable formal reasoning capability as an integral part.