4 research outputs found
An MDA approach towards integrating formal and informal modeling languages
This paper shows how formal and informal modeling languages can be cooperatively used in the MDA framework, and how transformations between models in these languages can be achieved using an MDA development environment. The integrated approach also provides an effective V&V technique for the MDA
A reuse-Oriented Approach for the Construction of Scenario Bases Methods
International audienceDespite the recent interest in scenarios, the development of new methods and tools for Requirements Engineering integrating scenario based approaches has been limited. This paper reports on four different processes developed from research undertaken as part of the CREWS project which the authors believe will improve scenario use and make it more systematic. Furthermore CREWS aims to integrate these approaches into a method for scenario-based requirements engineering. To achieve this objective and be able to include existing approaches such as use case analysis we develop a component based approach which reflects a shift towards a reuse-centric approach to method engineering. The paper presents CREWS method and meta-method knowledge through the implementation of an SGML database to store, retrieve and dynamically compose chunks of CREWS processes
Towards the formalisation of use case maps
Formal specification of software systems has been very promising. Critics against the end
results of formal methods, that is, producing quality software products, is certainly rare. Instead,
reasons have been formulated to justify why the adoption of the technique in industry
remains limited. Some of the reasons are:
• Steap learning curve; formal techniques are said to be hard to use.
• Lack of a step-by-step construction mechanism and poor guidance.
• Difficulty to integrate the technique into the existing software processes.
Z is, arguably, one of the successful formal specification techniques that was extended to
Object-Z to accommodate object-orientation. The Z notation is based on first-order logic
and a strongly typed fragment of Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory. Some attempts have been
made to couple Z with semi-formal notations such as UML. However, the case of coupling
Object-Z (and also Z) and the Use Case Maps (UCMs) notation is still to be explored.
A Use Case Map (UCM) is a scenario-based visual notation facilitating the requirements
definition of complex systems. A UCM may be generated either from a set of informal
requirements, or from use cases normally expressed in natural language. UCMs have the
potential to bring more clarity into the functional description of a system. It may furthermore
eliminate possible errors in the user requirements. But UCMs are not suitable to reason
formally about system behaviour.
In this dissertation, we aim to demonstrate that a UCM can be transformed into Z and
Object-Z, by providing a transformation framework. Through a case study, the impact of
using UCM as an intermediate step in the process of producing a Z and Object-Z specification
is explored. The aim is to improve on the constructivity of Z and Object-Z, provide more
guidance, and address the issue of integrating them into the existing Software Requirements
engineering process.Computer ScienceM. Sc. (Computer Science)D. Phil. (Computer Science
Integrating semi-formal and formal requirements
In this paper, we report on the integration of informal, semiformal and formal requirements specification techniques. We present a framework for requirements specification called TRADE, within which several well-known semiformal specification techniques are placed. TRADE is based on an analysis of structured and object-oriented requirements specification methods. In this paper, we combine TRADE with the logic-based specification language Albert II and show that this leads to a coherent formal and semiformal requirements specification. We illustrate our approach with examples taken from a large distributed telecommunication application case study performed in the context of the Esprit project 2RARE