15,998 research outputs found
ISML: an interface specification meta-language
In this paper we present an abstract metaphor model situated within a model-based user interface framework. The inclusion of metaphors in graphical user interfaces is a well established, but mostly craft-based strategy to design. A substantial body of notations and tools can be found within the model-based user interface design literature, however an explicit treatment of metaphor and its mappings to other design views has yet to be addressed. We introduce the Interface Specification Meta-Language (ISML) framework and demonstrate its use in comparing the semantic and syntactic features of an interactive system. Challenges facing this research are outlined and further work proposed
Attempto - From Specifications in Controlled Natural Language towards Executable Specifications
Deriving formal specifications from informal requirements is difficult since
one has to take into account the disparate conceptual worlds of the application
domain and of software development. To bridge the conceptual gap we propose
controlled natural language as a textual view on formal specifications in
logic. The specification language Attempto Controlled English (ACE) is a subset
of natural language that can be accurately and efficiently processed by a
computer, but is expressive enough to allow natural usage. The Attempto system
translates specifications in ACE into discourse representation structures and
into Prolog. The resulting knowledge base can be queried in ACE for
verification, and it can be executed for simulation, prototyping and validation
of the specification.Comment: 15 pages, compressed, uuencoded Postscript, to be presented at EMISA
Workshop 'Naturlichsprachlicher Entwurf von Informationssystemen -
Grundlagen, Methoden, Werkzeuge, Anwendungen', May 28-30, 1996, Ev. Akademie
Tutzin
SAGA: A project to automate the management of software production systems
The SAGA system is a software environment that is designed to support most of the software development activities that occur in a software lifecycle. The system can be configured to support specific software development applications using given programming languages, tools, and methodologies. Meta-tools are provided to ease configuration. The SAGA system consists of a small number of software components that are adapted by the meta-tools into specific tools for use in the software development application. The modules are design so that the meta-tools can construct an environment which is both integrated and flexible. The SAGA project is documented in several papers which are presented
Specifying Logic Programs in Controlled Natural Language
Writing specifications for computer programs is not easy since one has to
take into account the disparate conceptual worlds of the application domain and
of software development. To bridge this conceptual gap we propose controlled
natural language as a declarative and application-specific specification
language. Controlled natural language is a subset of natural language that can
be accurately and efficiently processed by a computer, but is expressive enough
to allow natural usage by non-specialists. Specifications in controlled natural
language are automatically translated into Prolog clauses, hence become formal
and executable. The translation uses a definite clause grammar (DCG) enhanced
by feature structures. Inter-text references of the specification, e.g.
anaphora, are resolved with the help of discourse representation theory (DRT).
The generated Prolog clauses are added to a knowledge base. We have implemented
a prototypical specification system that successfully processes the
specification of a simple automated teller machine.Comment: 16 pages, compressed, uuencoded Postscript, published in Proceedings
CLNLP 95, COMPULOGNET/ELSNET/EAGLES Workshop on Computational Logic for
Natural Language Processing, Edinburgh, April 3-5, 199
Modeling and Reasoning over Distributed Systems using Aspect-Oriented Graph Grammars
Aspect-orientation is a relatively new paradigm that introduces abstractions
to modularize the implementation of system-wide policies. It is based on a
composition operation, called aspect weaving, that implicitly modifies a base
system by performing related changes within the system modules. Aspect-oriented
graph grammars (AOGG) extend the classic graph grammar formalism by defining
aspects as sets of rule-based modifications over a base graph grammar. Despite
the advantages of aspect-oriented concepts regarding modularity, the implicit
nature of the aspect weaving operation may also introduce issues when reasoning
about the system behavior. Since in AOGGs aspect weaving is characterized by
means of rule-based rewriting, we can overcome these problems by using known
analysis techniques from the graph transformation literature to study aspect
composition. In this paper, we present a case study of a distributed
client-server system with global policies, modeled as an aspect-oriented graph
grammar, and discuss how to use the AGG tool to identify potential conflicts in
aspect weaving
Natural Language Dialogue Service for Appointment Scheduling Agents
Appointment scheduling is a problem faced daily by many individuals and
organizations. Cooperating agent systems have been developed to partially
automate this task. In order to extend the circle of participants as far as
possible we advocate the use of natural language transmitted by e-mail. We
describe COSMA, a fully implemented German language server for existing
appointment scheduling agent systems. COSMA can cope with multiple dialogues in
parallel, and accounts for differences in dialogue behaviour between human and
machine agents. NL coverage of the sublanguage is achieved through both
corpus-based grammar development and the use of message extraction techniques.Comment: 8 or 9 pages, LaTeX; uses aclap.sty, epsf.te
A grammatical specification of human-computer dialogue
The Seeheim Model of human-computer interaction partitions an interactive application into a user-interface, a dialogue controller and the application itself. One of the formal techniques of implementing the dialogue controller is based on context-free grammars and automata. In this work, we modify an off-the-shelf compiler generator (YACC) to generate the dialogue controller. The dialogue controller is then integrated into the popular X-window system, to create an interactive-application generator. The actions of the user drive the automaton, which in turn controls the application
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