A formal approach based on the rewriting logic for prototyping distributed information systems

Design and prototyping of real time/concurrent systems needs formal approaches in order to permit verification and validation at each step. Methods based on formal logic have been suggested but they often work only on a specific domain and are generally reserved to specialized users. In an attempt to overcome these two restrictions, we propose in this paper a method based on the rewriting logic. Theoretical backgrounds are not a prerequisite for the users. The method supports modularity and abstraction and follows the great principles of an object oriented approach. Different tools are available: a graphical editor for the specification of the structure and the behavior of the objects, an inference engine for rule validation, a generator of prototypes