Formal Specification of Software

Abstract

This module introduces methods for the formal specification of programs and large software systems, and reviews the domains of application of these methods. Its emphasis is on the functional properties of software. It does not deal with the specification of programming languages, the specification of user computer interfaces, or the verification of programs. Neither does it attempt to cover the specification of distributed systems. In our usage specification denotes 1 the process of producing various characterizations of software, and 2 the product of a specific stage of the process, namely a formal statement of what a software system is to do, where the other products of the specification process are an informal requirements statement and a design. To avoid unnecessary repetition this document uses the term specification to refer to the stage of the specification process that produces specifications.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1987
Accession Number
ADA236362

Entities

People

  • Alfs Berztiss

Organizations

  • Carnegie Mellon University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computer Science
  • Computers
  • Control Systems
  • Databases
  • Department Of Defense
  • Dictionaries
  • Information Systems
  • Language
  • Programming Languages
  • Software Design
  • Software Development
  • Software Metrics
  • Students

Fields of Study

  • Computer science
  • Engineering

Readers

  • Parallel and Distributed Computing.
  • Software Engineering.