Using executable specification languages for interface checking of large, distributed systems

The authors discuss the automatic checking of the consistency of interfaces between components of large, distributed systems. The approach is based on executable specification languages and has the following characteristics: use of specification languages for partitioning an overall system, specifying interfaces between the components, and composing rules to describe the functionality of each component; static analysis of the specifications for consistency and completeness; and automatic generation of procedural programs for rapid prototyping. It is proposed that configuration and data-specification languages be used for automatic interface checking. In contrast to conventional programming methodologies, communications between the components and message ordering are explicitly specified. New interface-checking algorithms that are based on regular expressions are developed. The checking is performed at the specification level, and no knowledge of the underlying programs is required