Search

Formal specification is an active research field in software engineering of this century, where different configurations and techniques are employed and although their industrial use is still limited, the scientific community currently has a different understanding about its usefulness and necessity. Until present time, researchers' work focuses on the specification written during the design of the preliminary functional model, for this reason it mainly focuses on evaluating the related tools. In this paper, a literature review is performed, covering the essence, function, use and disadvantages of formal specification techniques and some assessment and evaluation criteria are analyzed regarding their weaknesses. The results become the basis for future work formulation, aimed to the strengthening of formal specification as a core research activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal methods have yet to achieve wide industrial acceptance for several reasons. They are not well integrated into established industrial software processes, their application requires significant abstraction and mathematical skills, and existing tools do not satisfactorily support the entire formal software development process. We have proposed a language called SOFL (Structured-Object-based-Formal Language) and a SOFL methodology for system development that attempts to address these problems using an integration of formal methods, structured methods and object-oriented methodology. Construction of a system uses structured methods in requirements analysis and specifications, and an object-based methodology during design and implementation stages, with formal methods applied throughout the development in a manner that best suits their capabilities. This paper describes the SOFL methodology, which introduces some substantial changes from current formal methods practice. A comprehensive, practical case study of an actual industrial Residential Suites Management System illustrates how SOFL is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]