Learning TLA+ and Model Checking

This page lists some external resources one could use to learn more about TLA+ and related topics.

First things first:

1. Setup your IDE. Visual Studio code with [[../using/vscode.md|tlaplus plugin]] is recommended. 
2. If you have questions or if you feel stuck at any point, reach out to the [[../community.md|community]].

Then as good kickstart to TLA+, start with Leslie Lamport — The Paxos algorithm or how to win a Turing Award. Part 1 and Part 2. It is a good introduction on TLA+ and uses Paxos and Consensus as an example.

After that, you can start digging into Lamport’s video course available on the website. If you prefer a written medium, Specyfing systems: by Leslie Lamport is still the reference book for TLA+ and its tools. It’s well written and easy to follow.

After learning some TLA+, it might be helpful to start learning some Pluscal. Checkout the pluscal page for more info and some resources.

Don’t just learn the theory, start by solving some small exercises.

• The Specification Language TLA+: Another good manuscript by Stephan Merz explaining TLA+ specification language: Sect. 2 introduces TLA+ by way of a first specification of the resource allocator and illustrates the use of the tlc model checker. The logic TLA is formally defined in Sect. 3, followed by an overview of TLA+ proof rules for system verification in Sect. 4. Section 5 describes the version of set theory that underlies TLA+, including some of the constructions most frequently used for specifying data. The resource allocator example is taken up again in Sect. 6, where an improved high-level specification is given and a step towards a distributed refinement is made. The fnal Sect. 7 contains some concluding remarks.

A collection of resources about TLA+ can be found on the awesome-tla+ repository. Feel free to contribute with your useful links.