A formal basis for structured analysis

In a related paper by Docker and Tate (1986), a prototyping environment called SAME (Structured Analysis Modelling Environment) is described, which supports the exercising of structured systems analysis data flow diagrams (DFDs). SAME provides formal operational semantics for DFDs. These are suitable for building executable models of DFDs but are inadequate for proving properties about either DFDs or their components. The authors address this inadequacy by providing a formal mathematical semantics for DFDs from which formal specifications can be generated. The intention is to `graft´ this formal system onto SAME, and other tools, so that (traditional) semi-formal tools can be used as the `front-ends´ in the rigorous development of software. The aim is not merely to create an environment consisting of a set of tools that occupy the middle of the informal-formal spectrum. Rather, an eclectic approach is being pursued in which formal, semi-formal, and informal approaches can be integrated to support the software development process, thus providing flexibility both in terms of the rigour required by (and from) a user, and in terms of the choice of methods and tools available