Formal specification languages

1986 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 441
Author(s):  
John Parker ◽  
Graham Titterington
Keyword(s):  
Formal Specification ◽  
Specification Languages

An Empirical Investigation of Requirements Specification Languages

2011 ◽  
pp. 125-147
Author(s):  
Erik Kamsties ◽  
Antje von Knethen ◽  
Jan Philipps
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Formal Specification ◽  
Side Effect ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Requirements Specification ◽  
Specification Languages ◽  
Correct Interpretation ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Detection Of Defects

A well-known side-effect of applying requirements specification languages is that the formalization of informal requirements leads to the detection of defects such as omissions, conflicts, and ambiguities. However, there is little quantitative data available on this effect. This chapter presents an empirical study of requirements specification languages, in which two research questions are addressed: Which types of defects are detected by a requirements engineer during formalization? Which types of defects go undetected and what happens to those types in a formal specification? The results suggest looking explicitly for ambiguities during formalization, because they are less frequently detected than other types of defects. If they are detected, they require immediate clarification by the requirements author. The majority of ambiguities tend to become disambiguated unconsciously, that is, the correct interpretation was chosen, but without recurring to the requirements author. This is a serious problem, because implicit assumptions are known to be dangerous.

scholarly journals Declarative specifications

1996 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norbert E. Fuchs ◽  
David Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Formal Specification ◽  
Domain Specificity ◽  
Formal Specifications ◽  
Application Domain ◽  
Specification Languages ◽  
Application Specific ◽  
Declarative Specifications

AbstractDeriving formal specifications from informal requirements is extremely difficult since one has to overcome the conceptual gap between an application domain and the domain of formal specification methods. To reduce this gap we introduce application-specific specification languages, i.e., graphical and textual notations that can be unambiguously mapped to formal specifications in a logic language. We describe a number of realised approaches based on this idea, and evaluate them with respect to their domain specificity vs. generality.

Summary of the KEML-96 workshop, Paris, January 15–16, 1996, CNRS, Gif sur Yvette (Paris)

1996 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-195
Author(s):  
Richard Benjamins ◽  
Frank van Harmelen ◽  
Niek Wijngaards
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Acquisition ◽  
Formal Specification ◽  
Knowledge Engineering ◽  
Formal Languages ◽  
General Knowledge ◽  
Specification Languages

The KEML (Knowledge Engineering Methods and Languages) workshop which took place in a suburb of Paris was the sixth in a series, and was preceded by workshops in Bonn (1991 and 1993), Karlsruhe (1992) and Amsterdam (1994 and 1995). Originally, the workshops were dedicated to formal specification languages for KADS models, but later the scope was widened to include methods and languages for Knowledge Engineering in general. However, the emphasis of the KEML workshops remains on formal languages and techniques, and this distinguishes it from the more general Knowledge Acquisition workshops such as KAW (Banff, Canada), EKAW (Europe) and JKAW (Japan).

Towards Domain-Specific Formal Specification Languages for Railway Control Systems

2000 ◽  
Vol 33 (9) ◽  
pp. 119-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Peleska ◽  
Alexander Baer ◽  
Anne E. Haxthausen
Keyword(s):  
Control Systems ◽  
Formal Specification ◽  
Specification Languages ◽  
Domain Specific

OBJECT EXTENSIONS TO Z: A SURVEY

1996 ◽  
Vol 06 (03) ◽  
pp. 507-530
Author(s):  
B.L. ACHEE ◽  
DORIS L. CARVER
Keyword(s):  
Software Reuse ◽  
Formal Specification ◽  
Object Oriented ◽  
Specification Language ◽  
Specification Languages ◽  
Mathematical Basis ◽  
System Description ◽  
Library System ◽  
Work Done ◽  
Formal Specification Language

Formal specification languages provide assistance to solving the problem of high maintenance costs caused by ineffective communication of a system’s requirements. Using a sound mathematical basis, a formal specification language provides a precise and definitive system description that can serve as a binding contract. Additionally, the integration of the object-oriented paradigm with a formal specification language provides increased potential for software reuse, conceptually cleaner specifications and a framework for defining interfaces. To this end, there has been significant work done to extend existing specification languages to allow object-oriented specifications. This paper provides a comparison of such object-oriented specification languages, specifically, those extending Z. The paper is organized into five major sections. After a brief introduction to the concepts of formal specification languages and Z, a simple library system is defined and used as an example throughout the paper. Each of the object-oriented specification languages is introduced and classified as either using Z in an object-oriented style or providing a true object-oriented extension of Z. For each language, the specification of the example library system is presented following a brief overview of the language’s features. An in-depth comparison is made of each of the languages which provide a true object-oriented extension of Z.

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