Object modelling and formal specification during real-time system development

✍ Scribed by P.G. O'Donoghue; M.H. Murphy

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 247 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1084-8045
• DOI: 10.1006/jnca.1996.0023

✦ Synopsis

Object oriented techniques promote understanding of requirements leading to flexible and extendible designs. The use of formal specification techniques ensures a complete understanding of system requirements and provides sound foundations for subsequent testing and verification. This paper describes the use of the Z and Timed CSP formal specification techniques to support object modelling during real-time system development. Relationships between class attributes are specified within the corresponding Z schemas and inheritance relationships between classes are formally specified using the schema extension mechanism of Z. Z is used to specify the domain types of the attributes of classes identified during object oriented analysis and design. Z is also used to produce model based specifications of the methods within classes that are specified informally during functional analysis. Dynamic analysis identifies events, states and temporal relationships between events. Timed CSP is used to formally specify this information as well as timing information that is necessary during real-time system development.