quint

You should look into Quint: https://github.com/quint-co/quint. It comes with simple syntax and very good developer tooling. Quint to TLA+ is what Typst is to Latex.

I discovered Quint[0] due to this comment[1] on HN. Quint is "an executable specification language [which works in JavaScript] with delightful tooling based on the temporal logic of actions (TLA)". I think it is awesome and anybody interested in TLA+ should check it out. [0]: https://github.com/quint-co/quint [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49865720

I indirectly use TLA+ through https://github.com/quint-co/quint. I added instructions that "before you implement any feature, please use Quint to model it and make sure no counterexample for the system as a whole, reiterate the design with Quint as well and make sure your documents and implementation follows the formal model and docs". The result, while takes much longer, is quite magical. A lot of transaction and atomic bugs were found and fixed just by having such simple instruction alone. However, sometimes it is not all magical especially around external resources. Cloudflare, unfortunately, sometimes have hiccups on D1 and KV with timeout, which is more or less a force majeure. Fortunately, that means I will have to model the action as a binary event, that the transaction may not complete as we would have thought guaranteed, and by a

You can try Quint for specifications. It has an easier syntax closer to functional programming language and doesn't require a big investment learning the syntax: https://github.com/informalsystems/quint

> When I've tried to push TLA+ at work, the mathey syntax is usually a non-starter Would they be interested in Quint?[0] If I understand correctly, Quint is very similar to TLA+, but with a more "code-looking" notation. And it has some nice dev tooling, like an LSP, which also lowers the barrier to entry. [0]: https://github.com/informalsystems/quint

In addition to PlusCal, I think the main "pseudocode alternative" to TLA+ is now Quint: https://github.com/informalsystems/quint

Looks like there's more information in their readme: https://github.com/informalsystems/quint > Quint is a modern specification language that is a particularly good fit for distributed systems, such as blockchain protocols, distributed databases, and p2p protocols. Quint combines the robust theoretical basis of the Temporal Logic of Actions (TLA) with state-of-the-art type checking and development tooling.

Hi! I wrote a blogpost exploring a formal specification in Quint [1] for the secret santa game, and verifying some of its properties with Apalache [2]. Hope you enjoy it, and any feedback is welcome. Happy holidays! [1]: https://github.com/informalsystems/quint [2]: https://github.com/informalsystems/apalache

This is great feedback, thanks! Probably the first step tutorial should just be on something very straightforward, like an hour clock or a counter. I'll file an issue to introduce something more focused. Thanks again :) edit: https://github.com/informalsystems/quint/issues/1319

I can sympathize! We are aiming to maintain most of the expressive power of TLA+ -- ideally everything you need for a concise, high-high level specification, that can be simulated and/or verified -- but with surface syntax that is more approachable coming from a programming background. If you're interested in seeing how it maps to TLA+, you can find much of that in this document: https://github.com/informalsystems/quint/blob/main/doc/lang.... We still have lots of ways to improve, and -- we think -- lots of opportunities to improve our interop and complementary qualities in relation to TLA+ and TLC. But we have found the tools in their current state useful enough to be worth sharing :)

I am on the dev team for this project and would be happy to answer any questions and/or take note of any critical feedback :) Here's a bit more detail: Quint is a modern, executable specification language that is a particularly good fit for distributed systems, such as blockchain protocols, distributed databases, and p2p protocols. Quint combines the robust theoretical basis of the Temporal Logic of Actions (TLA) with state-of-the-art static analysis and development tooling.

It's still in pretty early development, but you may be interested in https://github.com/informalsystems/quint > It combines the robust theoretical basis of the Temporal Logic of Actions (TLA) with state-of-the-art static analysis and development tooling. And it is typed ;)