Modeling Software Components Using Behavior Protocols

This thesis proposes a novel approach for a description of a software component's behavior. The behavior is specified by using behavior protocols - a notation similar to regular expressions, which is easy to read and comprehend

Behavior Protocols for Software Components

In this paper, we propose a means to enhance an architecture description language with a description of component behavior. A notation used for this purpose should be able to express the "interplay" on the component's interfaces and reflect step-by-step refinement of the component's specification during its design. In addition, the notation should be easy to comprehend and allow for formal reasoning about the correctness of the specification refinement and also about the correctness of an implementation in terms of whether it adheres to the specification. Targeting all these requirements together, the paper proposes to employ behaviorprotocols which are based on a notation similar to regular expressions

Bounding Component Behavior via Protocols

In this paper we enhance the SOFA Component Description Language with a semantic description of a component's functionality. There are two key requirements this description aims to address: First, for the design purpose, it should ensure correct composition of the nested architectural abstractions; second, it should be easy-to-read so that an average user can identify a component with the correct semantics for the purposes of component trading. The semantic description in SOFA expresses the behavior of the component in terms of behavior protocols using a notation similar to regular expressions which is easy-to-read, and which grants guarantees about required and provided services. The behavior protocols are used on three levels: interface, frame, and architecture. One of the key achievements of this paper is that it defines a protocol conformance relation where the component designer can statically verify that the frame protocol adheres to requirements of the interface protocols, and that the architecture protocol adheres to the requirements of the frame and interface protocols

Behavior Protocols Revised on 7/8/2001

In this paper, we enhance an architecture description language with a description of component behavior. A notation used for this purpose should be able to express the “interplay ” on the component’s interfaces and reflect step-by-step refinement of the component’s specification during its design. In addition, the notation should be easy to comprehend and allow for formal reasoning about the correctness of the specification refinement and also about the correctness of an implementation in terms of whether it adheres to the specification. Targeting all these requirements together, the paper proposes to employ behavior protocols which are based on a notation similar to regular expressions. As a proof of the concept, the behavior protocols are used in the SOFA architecture description language at three levels: interface, frame, and architecture. Key achievements of this paper include the definitions of bounded component behavior and protocol conformance relation. Using these concepts, the designer can verify the adherence of a component’s implementation to its specification at run time, while the correctness of refining the specification can be verified at design time. 1