This paper presents the formal specification for a tool that models the functional requirements of a system based on use case models. The formal model of such a tool is made using Alloy, which is a lightweight modeling language. The structure of the model as well as an analysis of the model are specified using Alloy. As a complement of the formal model, a model diagram is also presented using t...

This paper presents a new guideline authoring tool, called Guideline Markup Tool (GMT). It proposes two useful features, which are missing in existing tools. First, it facilitates the translation of a free-text guideline into a formal representation, providing special XML macros. Second, it can be used to create links between the original guideline and its formal representation. Therefore, the ...

Background Recently there has been a significant increase in the number of systematic reviews addressing questions of prevalence. Key features of a systematic review include the creation of an a priori protocol, clear inclusion criteria, a structured and systematic search process, critical appraisal of studies, and a formal process of data extraction followed by methods to synthesize, or combin...

In recent years, formal methods have been used as an important tool for performance evaluation and verification of a wide range of systems. In the view points of engineers and practitioners, however, there are still some major difficulties in using formal methods. In this paper, we introduce a new formal modeling language to fill the gaps between object-oriented programming languages (OOPLs) us...

In recent years, formal methods have been used as an important tool for performance evaluation and verification of a wide range of systems. In the view points of engineers and practitioners, however, there are still some major difficulties in using formal methods. In this paper, we introduce a new formal modeling language to fill the gaps between object-oriented programming languages (OOPLs) us...

Despite recent developments in formal methods, formal methods have yet to enter the mainstream of software industry. In this paper, we first examine the pragmatic obstacles of making formal methods practical and usable. Then, we present a pragmatic approach to integrate a popular Object-Oriented modeling notation UML and a popular formal notationZ. Our approach is distinctive in its emphasis on...

Formal methods as currently practiced possess a serious flaw. Formalization is the goal of a specification process, and little or no attention is paid to issues in natural language. However, natural language is necessary in any software specification because formal languages have no real-world meaning. The application domain is almost entirely informal, so some formalization process is necessar...

This paper outlines formal verification in general and then introduces CVE’s equivalence checking tool gatecomp, an equivalence checker developed in the formal verification group at Infineon, Germany. The basic verification tasks are described and the advanced features of the tool are discussed. The application of gatecomp to large industrial examples is reported. This demonstrates the power of...