Consistent Graphical Specification of Distributed Systems

: The widely accepted possible benefits of formal methods on the one hand and their minor use compared to informal or graphical description techniques on the other hand have repeatedly lead to the claim that formal methods should be put to a more indirect or transparent use. We show how such an indirect approach can be incorporated in a CASE tool prototype by basing it upon formally defined hierarchical description techniques. We demonstrate the immediate benefits by introducing consistency notions gained from the formalization. Additionally, we show how the formalization can be used to apply automated property validation. Finally, we discuss some further techniques that could be based on the underlying formalization. 1 Distributed Systems Development Development of distributed systems has become a main objective of software engineering today. Intelligent networks providing multimedia-related services, distributed information systems like for instance car rental booking systems, or emb...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1997
• Where: FM
• Authors: Franz Huber, Bernhard Schätz, Geralf Einert
• Keywords: Description Techniques, Distributed Systems, FM 1997, Formal Methods