DocumentCode :
2657516
Title :
Formal semantics of models for computational engineering: a case study on dynamic fault trees
Author :
Coppit, David ; Sullivan, Kevin J. ; Dugan, Joanne Bechta
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. Sci., Virginia Univ., Charlottesville, VA, USA
fYear :
2000
fDate :
2000
Firstpage :
270
Lastpage :
282
Abstract :
Computational modeling tools are critical to engineering. In the absence of a sufficiently complete, mathematically precise, abstract specification of the semantics of the modeling framework supported by such a tool, rigorous validation of the framework and of models built using it is impossible; there is no sound basis for program implementation, verification or documentation; the scientific foundation of the framework remains weak; and significant conceptual errors in framework definition and implementation are likely. Yet such specifications are rarely defined. We present an approach based on the use of formal specification and denotational semantics techniques from software engineering and programming language design. To illustrate the approach, we present elements of a formal semantics for a dynamic fault tree framework that promises to aid reliability analysis. No such specification of the meaning of dynamic fault trees has been defined previously. The approach revealed important shortcomings in the previous, informal definitions of the framework, and thus led to significant improvements, suggesting that formally specifying framework semantics is critical to effective framework design
Keywords :
computation theory; fault trees; formal specification; programming language semantics; software reliability; case study; computational engineering; computational modeling tools; conceptual errors; denotational semantics; dynamic fault trees; formal semantics; formal specification; framework definition; program documentation; program implementation; program verification; programming language design; software engineering; software reliability analysis; validation; Acoustical engineering; Collaborative software; Computational modeling; Computer aided software engineering; Computer languages; Computer science; Documentation; Fault trees; Reliability engineering; Software engineering;
fLanguage :
English
Publisher :
ieee
Conference_Titel :
Software Reliability Engineering, 2000. ISSRE 2000. Proceedings. 11th International Symposium on
Conference_Location :
San Jose, CA
ISSN :
1071-9458
Print_ISBN :
0-7695-0807-3
Type :
conf
DOI :
10.1109/ISSRE.2000.885878
Filename :
885878
Link To Document :
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