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# Hoare Logic

Hoare logic is a way of inserting annotations into code to make proofs about program behavior simpler.

## Example Proof

//{0 <= y}
i = y;
//{0 <= y & i = y}
r = 0;
//{0 <= y & i = y & r = 0}
while //{r = (y-i)*x & 0 <= i}
(i > 0) (
//{r = (y-i)*x & 0 < i}
r = r + x;
//{r = (y-i+1)*x & 0 < i}
i = i - 1
//{r = (y-i)*x & 0 <= i}
)
//{r = x * y}

## Hoare Triple for Sets and Relations

When (sets of states) and (relation on states, command semantics) then Hoare triple

means

We call precondition and postcondition.

Note: weakest conditions (predicates) correspond to largest sets; strongest conditions (predicates) correspond to smallest sets that satisfy a given property (Graphically, a stronger condition denotes one quadrant in plane, whereas a weaker condition denotes the entire half-plane.)

## Strongest Postcondition - sp

Definition: for , ,

This is simply Relation Image of a set.

### Lemma: Characterization of sp

is the the smallest set such that , that is:

## Weakest Precondition - wp

Definition: for , ,

Note that this is in general not the same as when relation is non-deterministic.

### Lemma: Characterization of wp

is the largest set such that , that is:

## Some More Laws on Preconditions and Postconditions

We next list several more lemmas on properties of wp, sp, and Hoare triples.

### Postcondition of inverse versus wp

If instead of good states we look at the completement set of “error states”, then corresponds to doing backwards. In other words, we have the following:

### Three Forms of Hoare Triple

The following three conditions are equivalent:

## Hoare Triples, Preconditions, Postconditions on Formulas and Commands

Let and be formulas in our language (see simple programming language). We define Hoare triples on these syntactic entities by taking their interpretation as sets and relations:

means

In words: if we start in a state satisfying and execute , we obtain a state satisfying .

We then similarly extend the notion of and to work on formulas and commands. We use the same notation and infer from the context whether we are dealing with sets and relations or formulas and commands.

## Composing Hoare Triples

We can prove this from

• definition of Hoare triple
• meaning of ';' as