Wed 17 Jun 2026 12:20 - 12:40 at Flatirons 3 - Specification Synthesis and Verification Chair(s): John Regehr

Specification-Driven Development (SDD) has emerged as a promising paradigm in software development. This trend is fueled by recent advances in leveraging large language models (LLMs) to generate code from user intents expressed in natural language. However, the reliance on natural language specifications introduces ambiguity and challenges in ensuring correctness. To address these problems, we present Expecto, a system that automatically extracts trustworthy formal specifications from natural language intents. Expecto employs a neuro-symbolic approach, combining the strengths of LLMs and program synthesis techniques. Our key idea is to adopt a top-down, modular specification synthesis algorithm that breaks down the complex task of specification extraction into manageable units. The specifications are written in a domain-specific language (DSL) designed to succinctly express formal specifications of functional requirements. This modular synthesis with a concise DSL reduces the reasoning complexity for LLMs and enhances the accuracy of the extracted specifications. Our results demonstrate that Expecto significantly improves the accuracy and reliability of extracted specifications compared to a monolithic, purely LLM-based approach. Furthermore, when applied to real-world buggy programs in Defects4J, Expecto successfully generates formal specifications that detect more bugs than the baselines.

Wed 17 Jun

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11:00 - 12:40
Specification Synthesis and VerificationPLDI Research Papers at Flatirons 3
Chair(s): John Regehr University of Utah
11:00
20m
Talk
[SIGPLAN OOPSLA’25] Counterexample-Guided Inference of Modular Specifications
PLDI Research Papers
William Hallahan Binghamton, Ranjit Jhala University of California at San Diego, Ruzica Piskac Yale University
11:20
20m
Talk
Choose, Don’t Label: Multiple-Choice Query Synthesis for Program Disambiguation
PLDI Research Papers
Celeste Barnaby University of Texas at Austin, Danny Ding University of Texas at Austin, Osbert Bastani University of Pennsylvania, Işıl Dillig University of Texas at Austin
DOI
11:40
20m
Talk
Presynthesis: Towards Scaling Up Program Synthesis with Finer-Grained Abstract Semantics
PLDI Research Papers
Rui Dong University of Michigan, Qingyue Wu University of Michigan, Danny Ding University of Texas at Austin, Zheng Guo University of Michigan, Ruyi Ji University of Michigan, Xinyu Wang University of Michigan
DOI
12:00
20m
Talk
Verification Modulo Tested Library Contracts
PLDI Research Papers
Abhishek Uppar IISc Bangalore, Omar Muhammad IISc Bangalore, Sumanth Prabhu S Relyance AI, Deepak D'Souza IISc Bangalore, P. Madhusudan University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Adithya Murali University of Wisconsin-Madison
DOI
12:20
20m
Talk
Expecto: Extracting Formal Specifications from Natural Language Description for Trustworthy Oracles
PLDI Research Papers
Dongjae Lee KAIST, Kihong Heo KAIST
DOI