Animation, Verification and Visualisation of Prolog Transition Systems with ProB

2026-07-23

AI Summary

Existing approaches struggle to effectively animate, validate, and visualize transition systems defined in Prolog, limiting their utility in formal verification, education, and strategy evaluation. This work addresses these limitations by extending the Prolog animation mode of the ProB platform to support statistical model checking, reliable trace replay, interactive user input, and enhanced state visualization, thereby establishing a unified framework for interactive simulation and analysis. The proposed enhancements substantially improve the observability and usability of Prolog-based transition systems. The framework has been successfully applied to evaluate game-playing strategies in Connect Four, verify proof obligations in Event-B models, and enrich pedagogical demonstrations with greater interactivity and intuitiveness.

Abstract

ProB is a Prolog-based model checker, animator and constraint solver for high-level formal specifications. One can also use ProB to animate transition systems defined by Prolog predicates, allowing the application of its various validation techniques. In this work, we present the existing features of ProB's Prolog animation mode and its recent extensions. The extended capabilities include simulation for statistical checks, more reliable trace replay, transitions with user input and improved state visualisation. We apply the new features to case studies, particularly for evaluating different strategies in game play, such as Connect Four. The features are useful for many other applications, especially for ProB's new sequent prover for Event-B proof obligations, as well as for demonstration models for teaching in combination with interactive visualisation.

Problem

• Prolog
• transition systems
• animation
• verification
• visualisation

Innovation

• Prolog animation
• model checking
• state visualisation
• trace replay
• interactive simulation