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A Formal Definition of Structured Analysis with Programmable Graph Grammars

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  • First Online:
Applications of Graph Transformations with Industrial Relevance (AGTIVE 1999)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1779))

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Abstract

Structured Analysis has been one of the most widely used specification notations of the last decades. Friendliness and flexibility promoted its use, but informality hampered its precision and efficacy. The many proposals that tried to overcome the problem improve precision, but constrain flexibility. They propose formal and specific interpretations of Structured Analysis that, even if meritorious, do not impact on day-to-day practice. To meet the goal, formalization attempts should not try to impose particular interpretations, but they should allow users to tailor the interpretation to their current needs.

In this paper, we present a solution that merges precision and flexibility to provide a customizable and formal definition of Structured Analysis. Formalization consists of a set of customization rules and a consistency framework. Customization rules, based on graph grammars, formalize the different behaviors of notation elements by defining a mapping onto a formal model. The consistency framework groups complementary rules, which give different semantics to the same elements, and constrain the scope of each rule, that is, identifies the set of rules that may be affected by a change.

This work has been partially supported by the European Community under the ESPRIT IDERS (EP8593) and the KIT FORMSPEC Projects (KIT-125).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione-Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32, I-20133, Milano, Italy

    Luciano Baresi & Mauro Pezzé

Authors
  1. Luciano Baresi
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  2. Mauro Pezzé
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science III, Aachen University of Technology (RWTH), Ahornstr. 55, 52074, Aachen, Germany

    Manfred Nagl  & Manfred Münch  & 

  2. Institute for Software Technology, Department of Computer Science, University of the German Federal Armed Forces Munich, Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39, 85579, Neubiberg, Germany

    Andreas Schürr

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Baresi, L., Pezzé, M. (2000). A Formal Definition of Structured Analysis with Programmable Graph Grammars. In: Nagl, M., Schürr, A., Münch, M. (eds) Applications of Graph Transformations with Industrial Relevance. AGTIVE 1999. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1779. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45104-8_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45104-8_14

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-67658-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45104-4

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