Text Editing and Beyond: A Study in Logic Modeling
44 Pages Posted: 31 Oct 2008
Date Written: December 1991
Abstract
This paper presents a logic modeling exercise in which we developtest and implement a logic model for a test editor and use it to testexisting test editing software. We begin by presenting a first orderHorn logic axiomatization of a text editor by providing domain equationsfor the primitive operations insert, delete and character retrieval. We show that this logic model captures the essential aspects of thetext editing task and how more complex features are built using theseprimitives. We discuss possible implementations and conclude thatany operational semantics - the set of algorithms that perform thetask - must be strongly related to the logic model we present. In otherwords, each operational semantics constitutes a model of the logic theoryNext, we illustrate the usefulness of the model by implementinga basic text editing system and testing the correctness of an existingtext editor. We conclude by describing how we are integrating thesemodeling techniques into a larger and more complex knowledge-basedsystem.
Keywords: Logic Modeling, Text Editing, Operational Semantics, Hoare Logic, Horn Logic, Prolog, Hypertext
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