Object-Oriented Behavioral Specifications

__Object-Oriented Behavioral Specifications__ encourages builders of complex information systems to accelerate their move to using the approach of a scientific discipline in analysis rather than the approach of a craft. The focus is on understanding customers' needs and on precise specification of understanding gained through analysis. Specifications must bridge any gaps in understanding about business rules among customers, Subject Matter Experts, and `computer people', must inform decisions about reuse of software and systems, and must enable review of semantics over time. Specifications need to describe semantics rather than syntax, and to do that in an __abstract__ and __precise__ manner, in order to create software systems that satisfy business rules. The papers in this book show various ways of designing elegant and clear specifications which are reusable, lead to savings of intellectual effort, time, and money, and which contribute to the reliability of software and systems. __Object-Oriented Behavioral Specifications__ offers a fresh treatment of the object-oriented paradigm by examining the limitations of traditional OO methodologies and by describing the significance of competing trends in OO modeling. The book builds on four years of successful OOPSLA workshops (1991-1995) on behavior semantics. This book deals with precise specifications of `what' is accomplished by the business and `what' is to be done by a system. The book includes descriptions of successful use of abstract and precise specification in industry. It draws on the experience of experts from industrial and academic settings and benefits from international participation. Collective behavior, neglected in some treatment of the OO paradigm, is addressed explicitly in this book. The book does not take `reuse' of specifications or software for granted, but furnishes a foundation for taking as rigorous an approach to reuse decisions as to precise specifications in original developments.

Object-Oriented Behavioral Specifications encourages builders of complex information systems to accelerate their move to using the approach of a scientific discipline in analysis rather than the approach of a craft. The focus is on understanding customers' needs and on precise specification of understanding gained through analysis. Specifications must bridge any gaps in understanding about business rules among customers, Subject Matter Experts, and `computer people', must inform decisions about reuse of software and systems, and must enable review of semantics over time. Specifications need to describe semantics rather than syntax, and to do that in an abstract and precise manner, in order to create software systems that satisfy business rules.
The papers in this book show various ways of designing elegant and clear specifications which are reusable, lead to savings of intellectual effort, time, and money, and which contribute to the reliability of software and systems.
Object-Oriented Behavioral Specifications offers a fresh treatment of the object-oriented paradigm by examining the limitations of traditional OO methodologies and by describing the significance of competing trends in OO modeling. The book builds on four years of successful OOPSLA workshops (1991-1995) on behavior semantics.
This book deals with precise specifications of `what' is accomplished by the business and `what' is to be done by a system. The book includes descriptions of successful use of abstract and precise specification in industry. It draws on the experience of experts from industrial and academic settings and benefits from international participation. Collective behavior, neglected in some treatment of the OO paradigm, is addressed explicitly in this book. The book does not take `reuse' of specifications or software for granted, but furnishes a foundation for taking as rigorous an approach to reuse decisions as to precise specifications in original developments.

Booknews

Shows how to design reusable and reliable specification, focusing on understanding customer's needs and on the precise specification of understanding gained through analysis. Examines the limitations of traditional OO methodologies and describes the significance of competing trends in OO modeling, addressing the often-ignored issue of collective behavior within the OO paradigm. Other subjects include behavioral specifications for C++ modules, and FOOM. For builders of complex information systems. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Exactness and Clarity in a Component-Based Specification Language....Pages 1-15 A Formal Basis for Specifying Object Behaviour....Pages 17-30 Information Refraction....Pages 31-40 A Pragmatic Approach to Formal Specification....Pages 41-62 Anecdotes About Making a Specification Simpler....Pages 63-76 Invariants in the Trenches....Pages 77-100 Fundamentals of Object-Oriented Specification and Modeling of Collective Behaviors....Pages 101-120 An Overview of Larch/C++: Behavioral Specifications for C++ Modules....Pages 121-142 Structural Active-Object Systems Fundamentals....Pages 143-162 Organizational Culture: An Object-Oriented Framework....Pages 163-176 Specifying and Reasoning about Business Rules in a Semantic Network....Pages 177-192 Dynamic and Multiple Classification....Pages 193-196 Specifying Business Policy Using Agent-Contract Meta-Constructs....Pages 197-220 Architectural Specifications: Modeling and Structuring Behavior Through Rules....Pages 221-240 The Search for the Linking Invariant: Behavioral Modeling Versus Modeling Behavior....Pages 241-264 Automata Describing Object Behavior....Pages 265-286 Enterprise Modeling with USE Cases....Pages 287-296 Formal Object-Oriented Method — Foom....Pages 297-310 Back Matter....Pages 311-316