Ontology-based methodology for error detection in software design

Improving the quality of a software design with the goal of producing a high quality software product continues to grow in importance due to the costs that result from poorly designed software. It is commonly accepted that multiple design views are required in order to clearly specify the required functionality of software. There is universal agreement as to the importance of identifying inconsistencies early in the software design process, but the challenge is how to reconcile the representations of the diverse views to ensure consistency. To address the problem of inconsistencies that occur across multiple design views, this research introduces the Methodology for Objects to Agents (MOA). MOA utilizes a new ontology, the Ontology for Software Specification and Design (OSSD), as a common information model to integrate specification knowledge and design knowledge in order to facilitate the interoperability of formal requirements modeling tools and design tools, with the end goal of detecting inconsistency errors in a design. The methodology, which transforms designs represented using the Unified Modeling Language (UML) into representations written in formal agent-oriented modeling languages, integrates object-oriented concepts and agent-oriented concepts in order to take advantage of the benefits that both approaches can provide. The OSSD model is a hierarchical decomposition of software development concepts, including ontological constructs of objects, attributes, behavior, relations, states, transitions, goals, constraints, and plans. The methodology includes a consistency checking process that defines a consistency framework and an Inter-View Inconsistency Detection technique. MOA enhances software design quality by integrating multiple software design views, integrating object-oriented and agent-oriented concepts, and defining an error detection method that associates rules with ontological properties

Acknowledgements

There are several people whom I would like to acknowledge for their support during the development of this dissertation. To Dr. Doris L. Carver, my supervising professor, I express my sincere gratitude for her guidance throughout my graduate studies. She helped me to stay focused, to continually move forward toward my goals, as well as improve my literary writing and presentation skills. She provided invaluable advice with regard to conference and journal paper submissions. She also encouraged me at those critical times when I questioned my own abilities and became the most frustrated. To my committee members, Dr. Donald H. Kraft, Dr. Jianhua Chen, Dr. Young H. Chun, Dr. Earnest Mendrela, and Dr. Xiaoyue Jiang, I am thankful for the time and effort spent reviewing my research and the helpful comments that contributed to the success of this dissertation. To the members of my software engineering group, I appreciate the helpful suggestions given during my practice presentations. To my parents, Rai K. Schmalz and Guy C. Schmalz, I am thankful for their guidance and wisdom through the years that enabled me to develop the emotional and educational background that has helped me to progress this far in life. To my husband, James W. Hoss, and my children, Erik and Emma, I am forever grateful for the steadfast love, support, and inspiration they have given me each and every day. Their continual belief that I would one day finish this dissertation became the rock that saved me many a time from drifting off into the endless void of never endin