Angelo Morzenti
Abstract
We define TRIO+, an object-oriented logical language for modular system specification. TRIO+ is based on TRIO, a first-order temporal language that is well suited to the specification of embedded and real-time systems, and that provides an effective support to a variety of validation activities, like specification testing, simulation, and property proof. Unfortunately, TRIO lacks the ability to construct specifications of complex systems in a systematic and modular way. TRIO+ combines the use of constructs for hierarchical system decomposition and object-oriented concepts like inheritance and genericity with an expressive and intuitive graphic notation, yielding a specification language that is formal and rigorous, yet still flexible, readable, general, and easily adaptable to the user's needs. After introducing and motivating the main features of the language, we illustrate its application to a nontrivial case study extracted from a real-life industrial application.
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Index Terms
- Object-oriented logical specification of time-critical systems
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Reviews
Percy Mett
Formal specification is well established in the software engineering process. When specifying a real-time system, a formalism that incorporates temporal attributes is required. TRIO is a specification language based on first-order temporal logic that may be used in the validation of real-time systems. The systems that are most in need of formal specification are large-scale industrial systems, which are not readily amenable to description by relatively low-level languages that contain only the logical constructs. For such systems, software engineers look for a structured approach that supports modularity and reusability. These concepts underpin object-oriented approaches to software development. The authors have built a specification language based on TRIO but with essential features that support an object-oriented methodology. The structuring facilities thereby made available are considered crucial in avoiding the situation in which the bulk of the specification effort is expended in generating syntactically correct formulas. This enhanced language, TRIO+, is also endowed with a graphical representation. Such graphical tools improve the usability and acceptability of a formal specification method. The paper describes work conducted in conjunction with the Italian electricity supply industry in the development of control systems for hydroelectric power management. The development of TRIO+ is a welcome contribution in an area where the use of formal methods by industry has not kept pace with academic developments. Some comparisons with cognate languages are given; the strength of this development is its combination of a logic-based language (for specification purposes) with the structuring facilities of an object-oriented approach. A tool supporting the production of TRIO+ specifications has been developed and is available in the public domain.
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