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Precise Scenarios – A Customer-Friendly Foundation for Formal Specifications

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Integrated Formal Methods (IFM 2007)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 4591))

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Abstract

A formal specification, written in a mathematical notation, is beyond the comprehension of the average software customer. As a result, the customer cannot provide useful feedback regarding its correctness and completeness. To address this problem, we suggest the formalism expert to work with the customer to create precise scenarios. With only a few simple Z concepts, a precise scenario describes an operation by its effects on the system state. The customer would find a concrete precise scenario easier to understand than its corresponding abstract schema. The Z expert derives schemas based on the precise scenarios. Precise scenarios afford user involvement that improves the odds of a formal specification fully capturing the user requirements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Loughborough University, England

    Oliver Au, Roger Stone & John Cooke

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  1. Oliver Au
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  2. Roger Stone
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  3. John Cooke
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Jim Davies Jeremy Gibbons

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Au, O., Stone, R., Cooke, J. (2007). Precise Scenarios – A Customer-Friendly Foundation for Formal Specifications. In: Davies, J., Gibbons, J. (eds) Integrated Formal Methods. IFM 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4591. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73210-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73210-5_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-73209-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-73210-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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