Towards a comparative evaluation of text-based specification formalisms and diagrammatic notations. (25th March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Moremedi, Kobamelo; Poll, John Andrew Van Der
• Is Part Of: International journal of data mining, modelling and management. Volume 11:Number 3(2019)
• Page Start: 259
• Page End: 283
• Publication Date: 2019-03-25
• Subjects: case study -- diagrammatic notation -- formal specification -- Euler diagrams -- set theory -- spider diagrams -- Venn diagrams -- pierce diagrams -- Z; Data mining -- Periodicals; Information science -- Periodicals; Databases -- Periodicals; 005.7
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1759-1163

Abstract

Specification plays a pivotal role in software engineering to facilitate the development of highly dependable software. Various techniques for specification work have been developed to provide for precise and unambiguous specifications. Z is a formal specification language that is based on a strongly-typed fragment of Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory and first-order logic to provide for provably correct specifications. While diagrammatic specification languages may lack precision, they may, owing to their visual characteristics be a lucrative option for advocates of semi-formal specification techniques. In this research, we investigate the extent to which diagrammatic notations may capture the essence of, e.g., a Z specification. Several diagrammatic notations are considered and combined for this purpose. A case study is employed towards the end to evaluate the utility of the diagrammatic notation developed in this article. Comparisons on the merits of a diagrammatic notation are presented to further determine their feasibility.