The Z environment

Author

Ishaq, K.P. ; Masterson, J.J. ; Rich, C.B.

Author_Institution

British Telecom Res. Labs., Ipswich, UK

fYear

1989

fDate

2/17/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

42461

Lastpage

42465

Abstract

A major ongoing development is the Z environment (ZEN) project which provides a support environment for the creation and animation of specifications written using the Z technique. A prototype has been completed and work is underway to produce a system for the production and animation of specifications on a regular basis. There are two major support areas possible: assistance with the creation of the specification, and mechanisms for exploring the actual behavior of what has been specified. Support for the creation of a specification can be through checkers to which the specification is submitted through an interactive editing environment. To achieve this, the authors have combined user centred design and knowledge based systems (KBS) techniques. They provide an outline of the nature of the ZEN support tool as an indication of the level of assistance that is feasible for formal specification

Keywords

formal specification; knowledge based systems; software tools; specification languages; user interfaces; KBS techniques; Z environment; Z technique; ZEN project; ZEN support tool; checkers; formal specification; interactive editing environment; knowledge based systems; major ongoing development; prototype; specification animation; support areas; support environment; user centred design;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

iet

Conference_Titel

Application of Computer Aided Software Engineering Tools, IEE Colloquium on

Type

conf

Filename

197869