“First Steps Towards Inferential Programming” by Scherlis and Scott (1983)

Logics of programs, while they have contributed significantly to our understanding of individual programs and to our knowledge of programming language design, have had disappointingly little influence on the methods by which programs are constructed and documented in practice. The reason for this, we suspect, is that the understanding embodied in these systems deals with individual programs and does not directly address the process by which. programs are constructed. By focusing attention on this process, attempting to discern the fundamental steps in the evolution of programs, we propose that it may be possible lo develop a logical system- supported by an appropriate machine

environment--that will be more directly applicable to programming practice. The bencfits of such a point of view will be discussed.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/William-Scherlis/publication/221330578_First_Steps_Towards_Inferential_Programming/links/577c0f9e08ae355e74f16a23/First-Steps-Towards-Inferential-Programming.pdf?origin=publication_detail#page17