Showing papers by "Betty H. C. Cheng published in 2000"
25 Jun 2000
TL;DR: This paper describes how the resulting diagrams via their specifications can be analyzed using automated techniques to validate behavior through simulation or to check for numerous properties of the diagrams, including inter- and intramodel consistency.
Abstract: As the impact of and demand for software increases, there is greater need for rigorous software development techniques that can be used by a typical software engineer. In order to integrate informal and formal approaches to software development, we added formal syntax and semantics definitions to existing object-oriented modeling notations. This formalization enables developers to construct object-oriented models of requirements and designs and then automatically generate formal specifications for the diagrams. This paper describes how the resulting diagrams via their specifications can be analyzed using automated techniques to validate behavior through simulation or to check for numerous properties of the diagrams, including inter- and intramodel consistency.
18 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a set of formalization rules are proposed to provide formal semantics for DFDs in order to integrate the functional model with the other two models of OMT, namely, the object and dynamic models, in terms of the underlying formal semantics.
Abstract: The data flow diagram (DFD), originally introduced for structured design purposes, depicts the functions that a system or a module should provide. The objective of a software system is to implement specific functionalities. The function-oriented decomposition strategy of DFDs in the conventional design process for structured design conflicts with the spirit of object-orientation. So far, there is no object-oriented method that has successfully integrated DFDs into the object-oriented development process. In this paper, we demonstrate how DFDs can be modified in order to be integrated into object-oriented development. The Object Modeling Technique (OMT) is used as the context for object-oriented development. In addition, a set of formalization rules are proposed to provide formal semantics for DFDs in order to integrate the functional model with the other two models of OMT, namely, the object and dynamic models, in terms of the underlying formal semantics.
10 citations
05 Nov 2000
TL;DR: This work has added formal syntax and semantics definitions to an existing object-oriented modeling notation in order to integrate informal and formal approaches to software development.
Abstract: As the impact of and demand for software increases, there is greater need for rigorous software development techniques that can be used by a typical software engineer. We have added formal syntax and semantics definitions to an existing object-oriented modeling notation in order to integrate informal and formal approaches to software development. This formalization enables developers to construct object-oriented models of requirements and designs and then automatically generate formal specifications for the diagrams. These formal specifications enable the diagrams to be analyzed by a number of existing automated reasoning utilities, including behavior simulators, model checkers, and rewriting systems.
5 citations
01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: This research constructs homomorphisms between metamodels of the source semi- formal language and the target formal language, so that consistency of formalization rules can be mechanically established in order to provide precise semantics to the semi-formal notation.
Abstract: Embedded systems are 10 to 100 times more numerous than traditional systems with displays and keyboards But even though the object-oriented paradigm has been used to develop many traditional systems, it has not been widely applied to embedded systems. Application of the object-oriented paradigm in industry is encouraged and reinforced by graphical methods such as the Object Modeling Technique (OMT) and the Universal Modeling Language (UML), but the semantics of the diagrams are not rigorous. This research provides formal semantics for UML models in order to build embedded systems. This formalization enables the automated analysis of diagrams, such as simulation and model checking, which are particularly critical for the development of embedded systems, given the demand for specifying temporal and concurrency properties. This research constructs homomorphisms between metamodels of the source semi-formal language and the target formal language, so that consistency of formalization rules can be mechanically established in order to provide precise semantics to the semi-formal notation.
4 citations
TL;DR: This project has defined formal syntax and semantics for object-oriented models used in the OMT and UML notations for use during requirements analysis and design, and developed a rigorous process for the transformation and decomposition of OMT models that represent architectural design strategies.
Abstract: fective at detecting differences between a specification and its implementation. Our overall approach is a combination of specification-based and program-based testing: we generate test cases from finite-state models by applying constraint-based structural criteria and use program-based structural criteria to determine test completeness. Formal and empirical analyses of our new coverage criteria will provide guidance for choosing pairs of constraint-based and program-based coverage criteria. One of the main problems with model-based test generation is the state explosion problem. We are investigating two methods that address this problem. Specification slicing is used to partition a finite-state model into several smaller sub-models that are used for test generation. Incremental testing is used to generate test paths that satisfy incremental coverage criteria. Tests that satisfy an incremental criterion applied to a sub-model implicitly satisfy the same criterion when it is applied to the whole system. Both of these methods avoid the costly construction of complete system models for test generation. Algorithms for incremental test generation and definitions of several incremental coverage criteria are described in integration problem is further emphasized with I:qVIL since there are nine diagrams under consideration.) Nevertheless, the OMT and now UML are commonly used because of their easy to use notation that support modeling multiple views of software requirements. This project has defined formal syntax and semantics for object-oriented models used in the OMT and UML notations for use during requirements analysis and design. First, we have defined a precise syntax and formal semantics for the OMT diagramming notations [BC95, WRC97, WC98a, WC98b], thus facilitating the representation and formal analysis of requirements. Using the formalized notations, an OMT model will represent both a formal requirements specification and a preliminary software design, because the three complementary diagrams not only indicate what the system should achieve, but it also can be used to describe the components making up the system and their relationships. Second, we have developed a rigorous process ~C98b] for the transformation and decomposition of OMT models that represent architectural design strategies. Third, we have demonstrated how the abstract system architecture represented in the diagrams can be used to provide the foundation for a modular , formal specification of the system design. Such a specification can be used to develop an efficient executable program using either informal or formal program development methods. More recently, we have extended our formalizations of OMT to the UML, with an emphasis on developing embedded …