Formal specification based prototyping

Rapid prototyping is an approach to software development which attempts to remedy some of the shortcomings of the linear life cycle model, e.g. its inability to cope with fuzzy requirements and system evolution. This thesis first presents a broad survey of rapid software prototyping. It describes the rationale behind the process, the applications of prototyping, and specific techniques which may be used to achieve them. We then describe a system, called EPROS, together with its methodology, which supports a number of prototyping techniques in a coherent framework. The system is comprehensive in its approach and covers the prototyping and development of both functional and human-computer interface aspects of software systems. The former is based on the execution of VDM-based formal specification notation META-IV; the latter is based on a textual representation of state transition diagrams. Dialogue development is further supported by a rich set of abstractions which allow interaction concepts to be specified and directly executed rather than implemented. EPROS is based on a wide spectrum language which supports the main phases of a software development process, namely specification, design, and implementation. Included in this notation is a meta abstraction facility which facilitates its extension by the programmer. The primary application of EPROS is for evolutionary prototyping, where a system is developed iteratively and gradually from the abstract to the detailed, while it undergoes use and while its capabilities evolve. EPROS copes with all the requirements of evolutionary prototyping, namely rapid development, intermediate deliveries and gradual evolution of the system towards the final product. The thesis also describes a number of case studies where the presented ideas are put in practice, and which provide data in support of the effectiveness of the described system

Validation of queries to a relational database

This thesis addresses the problem of preventing users of a data base system from interrogating it with query language expressions which are syntactically and semantically valid but which do not match the user's intentions. A method of assisting users of a relational data base to formulate query language expressions which are valid representations of the abstract query which the user wishes to put is developed. The central focus of the thesis is a method of communicating the critical aspects of the semantics of the relation which would be generated in response to a user's proposed operations on the data base. Certain classes of user error which can arise when using a relational algebra query system are identified, and a method of demonstrating their invalidity is demonstrated. This is achieved by representing via a graph the consequences of operations on relations. Also developed are techniques allowing the generation of pseudo-natural language text describing the relations which would be created as the result of the user's proposed query language operations. A method of allowing the creators of data base relations to incorporate informative semantic data about their relations is developed. A method of permitting this data to be modified by query language operations is specified. Pragmatic linguistic considerations which arise when this data is used to generate pseudo-natural language statements are addressed, and examples of the system's use are given

The BG News December 12, 1991

The BGSU campus student newspaper December 12, 1991. Volume 74 - Issue 72https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/bg-news/6307/thumbnail.jp

Mustang Daily, September 30, 1985

Student newspaper of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA.https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/studentnewspaper/4484/thumbnail.jp

Statesboro News

https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/bulloch-news-issues/5947/thumbnail.jp

1962-03-22 Rowan County News

Rowan County News published on March 22, 1962