A formal framework for specifying design methods

Author

D´Inverno, Mark ; Justo, G. R Ribeiro ; Howells, Paul

Author_Institution

School of Comput. Sci., Univ. of Westminster, London, UK

Volume

1

fYear

1996

fDate

3-6 Jan 1996

Firstpage

741

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to put forward a software process model for high-performance systems (HPS), and to present a formal framework to describe software design methodologies (SDMs) for those systems. The framework consists of two main parts: the software process activities which characterise the development of HPS, and the components of the SDM (concepts, artifacts, representation and actions) which are essential for any methodology. The framework relates these two parts by identifying generic components of each activity in the software process that can be used to classify and evaluate SDMs for HPS. The framework has been formally specified using the language Z and used to derive formal specifications of SDMs. This is illustrated in the paper by presenting part of the specification of ODM (an Occam design method)

Keywords

Occam; formal specification; software performance evaluation; specification languages; systems analysis; ODM; Occam design method; Z; actions; artifacts; concepts; design method specification; formal framework; formal specifications; high-performance systems; methodology; representation; software design methodologies; software process model; specification language; Computer science; Design methodology; Electronic mail; Formal specifications; Parallel processing; Project management; Software design; Software tools;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

System Sciences, 1996., Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Hawaii International Conference on ,

Conference_Location

Wailea, HI

Print_ISBN

0-8186-7324-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/HICSS.1996.495528

Filename

495528