Lecture
SS 2025
| Organizers | Prof. Benjamin Kaminski, Tobias Gürtler, Anran Wang, Lucas Kehrer |
| Places | E1 3, Lecture Hall III (0.03.1) |
InTroduction
Compute systems are everywhere, including in critical scenarios where human lives are at stake (airplanes, hospitals, nuclear power plants, etc.). It is paramount that such systems are safe. But what does “safe” even mean?
In this lecture, we will explore various logics for specifying and techniques for proving with mathematical rigor that systems are safe. Time permitting, we will also peek into methods for reasoning about quantitative properties of probabilistic systems.
Topics which we will cover include:
- Model checking
- Linear temporal logic (LTL)
- Computation tree logic (CTL)
- Hoare logic
- Weakest preconditions / predicate transformers
- k-induction
- Probabilistic verification
structure
This course consists of two weekly lectures and one tutorial. The lectures take place Mondays from 10:00 m.c.t. – 12:00, and Tuesdays from 12:00 c.t. – 14:00 (see below) at E1 3, Lecture Hall III (0.03.1) starting from 8. April.
For the tutorial, we offer two dates: Either Thursdays or Fridays 10:00 – 12:00 in seminar room SR 014 (Thursdays) or SR 015 (Fridays) both in building E1 3 starting from 17. April.
There will be two midterm exams taking place during the lecture dates. Passing the midterms is required to be admitted to the final exam (details will be announced later). Homework is not required to be admitted to the exam.
There will be weekly homework, which consists two parts: Part 1 (basic) and Part 2 (advanced). Homework submission is voluntary. Upon submission, Part 1 will be corrected and returned to you. Sample solutions will be provided for Part 2. In the tutorial, we will discuss last week’s homework and answer questions.
Requirements
| Very Strongly Recommended | Programmierung 1 Programmierung 2 Grundzüge der Theoretischen Informatik (appreciation for formal stuff) |
| Recommended | Concurrent Programming |
| Ideal | (passion for formal stuff) |
Timeline / Deadlines (tentative)
| Lecture | Mo. 10 – 12 Tu. 12 – 14 | E1 3, Lecture Hall III (0.03.1) |
| Tutorial | Th. 10 – 12 Fr. 10 – 12 | E1 3, Seminar Room 014 (Thursdays) E1 3, Seminar Room 015 (Fridays) |
| Midterm 1 | likely 20.5.2025 | E1 3, Lecture Hall III (0.03.1) |
| Midterm 2 | likely 24.6.2025 | E1 3, Lecture Hall III (0.03.1) |
Textbook
- Baier, Christel, and Joost-Pieter Katoen. Principles of Model Checking. The MIT Press Ser. Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England: The MIT Press, 2008.
- Benjamin Lucien Kaminski. Advanced Weakest Precondition Calculi for Probabilistic Programs. 2019