Program Sketching via CTL* Model Checking

Sketching is an approach to automated software synthesis where the programmer develops a partial implementation called a sketch and a separate specification of the desired functionality. A synthesizer tool then automatically completes the sketch to a complete program that satisfies the specification. Previously, sketching has been applied to finite programs with a desired functional input/output behavior and given invariants. In this paper, we consider (non-terminating) reactive programs and use the full branching time logic CTL* to formalize specifications. We show that the sketching problem can be reduced to a CTL* model checking problem provided there is a translation of the program to labeled transition systems.

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