Transformational Implementation: An Example.
Abstract
Program Manipulation Systems have been proposed as an alternative programming paradigm in which the PROCESSES of design and implementation are themselves the subject of study. These processes are captured and recorded to provide documentation of the program, the basis for its validation, and the framework within which future maintenance will occur. This extension of the conventional programming paradigm to include the development of the program as a computer processable object in addition to the program itself is quite profound. A key insight of the Program Manipulation approach is that transformations provide a sufficient basis for the design and implementation processes. Each development decision can be represented as a transformation applied to the program. Thus, a development if merely a linear sequence of transformations applied to the PROGRAM resulting from the previous stage of development. Each stage of the development corresponds to the transformation of a program treated as a specification into another treated as an implementation. Thus, development is an iterative (or sometimes a recursive) process of successive refinement in which a specification is gradually transformed into an implementation. This implies that the original specification of the program is itself a program (so that it can be transformed). To be a program, the specification language must have a formal semantics (thus precluding pseudo-code type languages) so that validity of transformations and of the development process is a meaningful concept. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1981
- Accession Number
- ADA101994
Entities
People
- Robert Balzer
Organizations
- University of Southern California