The Design and Use of Specification Languages.

Abstract

The goal of proving the correctness of computer programs has been hindered by the difficulty of stating formally what is to be proven. The tools developed to achieve this latter purpose often receive the name of specification languages, but the formalization and implementation of such languages has seldom been carried out, and very few of these languages have been described in the literature. We present some design issues concerning specification languages, e.g., desirable properties of such languages, and their limitations, as well as some ideas on their use (and hence on the use of specifications in general) as an integral part of the design process leading to reliable software systems. The (possibly automated) verification of some properties of formal specifications is considered, and some conclusions are drawn concerning the help such an approach can bring in providing greater confidence in the final software product. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 03, 1976
Accession Number
ADA038783

Entities

People

  • Olivier Roubine

Organizations

  • SRI International

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Automatic Programming
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computer Science
  • Computers
  • Language
  • Logic
  • Mathematical Logic
  • Natural Languages
  • Numbers
  • Operating Systems
  • Programming Languages
  • Recursive Functions
  • Set Theory
  • Software Development
  • Specifications

Fields of Study

  • Computer science
  • Engineering

Readers

  • Software Engineering.
  • Systems Analysis and Design