1998 CR Categories: D.1.5 [Programming Techniques] Applicative (Functional) Programming; D.2.1 [Software Engineering] Requirements/Specificationslanguages; D.2.4 [Software Engineering] Software/Program Verificationclass invariants, formal methods, programming by contract; D.3.3 [Software Engineering] Language Constructs and Featuresclasses and objects, frameworks; F.3.1 [Logics and Meanings ...

The introduction into an object-oriented framework such as Eiffel of "agents", a higher-level functional abstraction, brings a whole new set of expressive possibilities. This tutorial will explain how to use agents in the best possible way and detail their application to a wide range of areas including: graphical programming; error handling; writing extensive contract specifications; numerical ...

Extended Finite State Machines (EFSMs) are often used in model-based development and for modeling VHDL specifications. This paper proposes an approach for automated test generation for EFSM models. Design by contract approach is applied to formalize specification requirements. Genetic algorithm is proposed to find set of values that triggers given path in the EFSM and reveals inconsistensies wi...

Current interests in the context of system development include non-functional aspects of an application and the quality of the service (QoS) it provides. In video on demand applications, for instance, properties such as delay, bandwidth and CPU utilization are monitored in order to identify if they are within acceptable limits. In our approach, non-functional requirements are described by contr...

Symbolic-evaluation is the process which abstractly evaluates an actor program and checks to see whether the program fulfills its contract (specification). In this paper, a formalism based on the conceptual representation is proposed as a specification language and a proof system for programs which may include change of behavior (side-effects). The relation between algebraic specifications and ...

Connector-Centric Design (XCD) is centred around a new formal architectural description language, focusing mainly on complex connectors. Inspired by Wright and BIP, XCD aims to cleanly separate in a modular manner the high-level functional, interaction, and control system behaviours. This can aid in both increasing the understandability of architectural specifications and the reusability of com...

Connector-Centric Design (XCD) is a new approach for specifying software architectures that focuses on the use of complex connectors. In XCD simple interconnection mechanisms like procedure-calls, event-buses, etc. are abstracted and components take a second place. XCD aids the clear separation in a modular manner of the highlevel functional, interaction, and control system behaviour, thus incr...

Specifications have a large impact upon capital and operating costs because they are formulated early in the design process. Models of the specification process have been developed for the automotive industry. These models have many shortcomings and have limited application in other sectors. This paper examines the development and use of specifications relating to customised plant for the elect...

Choreography diagrams have been introduced in the Business Process Model and Notation language 2.0 (BPMN 2.0), one among the most used languages for modelling and analyzing business processes in industry, in order to provide a view on the interaction between participants. Besides the intuitive definition of choreographies as interfaces among participants, the BPMN 2.0 specifications also define...

Design by Contract, proposed by Meyer for the programming language Eiffel, is a technique that allows run-time checks of specification violation and their treatment during program execution. Jass, Java with assertions, is a Design by Contract extension for Java allowing to annotate Java programs with specifications in the form of assertions. The Jass tool is a pre-compiler that translates annot...