A specification matching based approach to reverse engineering

Specification Matching is a technique that has been used to retrieve reusable components from reuse libraries. The relationship between a query specification and a library specification is typically based on refinement, where a library specification matches a query specification if the library specification is more detailed than the query specification. Reverse engineering is a process of analyzing components and component interrelationships in order to construct descriptions of a system at a higher level of abstraction. In this paper, we define the concept of an abstraction match as a basis for reverse engineering and show how the abstraction match can be used to facilitate a process for generalizing specifications. Finally, we apply the specification generalization technique to a portion of a NASA JPL ground-based mission control system for unmanned flight systems.