If you are serious about using SPIN, this is the book that should be
on your desk. Highly recommended.
Model checking is all about finding bugs in software.
Whether you need to find bugs in the initial design of your software,
or want to find errors in your code automatically, model checking tools
can help you out. And among the many model checking tools available,
SPIN is arguably one the most powerful ones. And the good thing is:
SPIN is freely available and open source.
Powerful tools should be handled with care. And SPIN is not any
different. This book, by the principal designer of SPIN, however,
explains everything you need to know to use SPIN in the most
efficient way.
The book of course explains SPIN's modelling language Promela and the
many ways to specify properties to be checked with SPIN. The usage of
SPIN and its graphical interface Xspin are discussed in depth as well.
The book also shows you what's under the hood of SPIN. The basic
verification algorithms are explained and all optimization algorithms
which make SPIN such a cutting-edge tool. For advanced use of SPIN
(to squeeze out those last megabytes), it is important to have an
idea how the tool works.
Abstraction is the key activity in composing efficient models that
can be checked with SPIN. The book offers guidelines in how to make
abstractions of system designs, but also shows how to generate
Promela models from ANSI-C code.
The book is nicely structured into four parts: Intro, Foundation,
Practice, and Reference Material. This makes it easy to find the
information you are looking for.
Another nice thing about the book is that each chapter is concluded
with bibliographic notes which list the pointers to literature that
go even deeper into the subject of the particular chapter. The
chapters themselves are illustrated with many (real world) examples
and the book is very well written. And be sure to check out
Appendix B "The Great Debates" which discusses several "religious"
topics concerning concurrency theory.
A substantial part of the book (Reference Material, nearly 200 pages)
is devoted to a reference to all Promela statements and the various
SPIN options. Using the UNIX man-page style, the details of all features
are carefully explained. Especially for this part, I keep the book
within reach on my desk. Even after more than five years of experience
with SPIN, I occasionally need to know the exact semantics of some
Promela construct. And the book explains it well.
Although the book includes some introductionary chapters to SPIN, the
book shines as a reference to SPIN. People completely new to SPIN might
better start their journey at the SPIN's website: http://spinroot.com,
which - among other goodies - hosts some more gentle introductions
on SPIN. But for intermediate and advanced users of SPIN the book
is a must.
