A template for rapid prototyping of operating systems

Rapid prototyping of many classes of systems can be facilitated by starting from an executable template specification appropriate to that class. A system template serves several useful purposes. It organizes ones thinking about the particular system to be specified, and speeds the specification process by pre-specifying structures and operations common to all systems in a class. If executable, it can be developed into a system prototype. Though beyond the scope of this paper, it can organize proofs of properties of the specification and its implementations by making it possible to isolate the relevant proof obligations. The authors templates have an additional property: they classify sub-specifications according to "kinds" that needs to be completed differently. The authors illustrate rapid prototyping from a template for operating systems, specifically showing how to obtain a rapid prototype of the MINIX system. This approach may also be useful for other classes of systems, such as architectures.<<ETX>>