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Automatic derivation of formal software specifications from informal descriptions | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore

Automatic derivation of formal software specifications from informal descriptions


Abstract:

SPECIFIER, an interactive system which derives formal specifications of data types and programs from their informal descriptions, is described. The process of deriving fo...Show More

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Abstract:

SPECIFIER, an interactive system which derives formal specifications of data types and programs from their informal descriptions, is described. The process of deriving formal specifications is viewed as a problem-solving process. The system uses common problem-solving techniques such as schemas, analogy, and difference-based reasoning to derive formal specifications. If an informal description is a commonly occurring operation for which the system has a schema, then the formal specification is derived by instantiating the schema. If there is a no such schema, SPECIFIER tries to find a previously solved problem which is analogous to the current problem. If the problem found is directly analogous to the current problem, it applies an analogy mapping to obtain a formal specification. On the other hand, if the analogy found is only approximate, it solves the directly analogous part of the problem by analogy and performs difference-based reasoning using the remaining (unmatched) parts to transform the formal specification obtained by analogy to a formal specification for the entire original problem.<>
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering ( Volume: 17, Issue: 10, October 1991)
Page(s): 1126 - 1142
Date of Publication: 06 August 2002

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