Domain descriptions

Ideas about the meaning of descriptions, aimed at clarifying the relationship between a formal specification and the domain of the system to be specified, are introduced. Understanding of specifications must rest on explicit statements of what they are about and what they assert. The authors argue that current formal specification techniques are inadequate in this respect, and therefore cannot offer a satisfactory foundation for automated support of software development. An approach that offers a possible basis for effective reuse of descriptions generally, and of partial specifications in particular, is discussed