Skip to main content
Log in

A fully abstract semantics of classes for Object-Z

  • Published:
Formal Aspects of Computing

Abstract

This paper presents a fully abstract semantics of classes for the object oriented formal specification language Object-Z. Such a semantics includes no unnecessary syntactic details and, hence, describes a class in terms of the external behaviour of its objects only. The semantics, based on an extension of existing process models, defines a notion of behavioural equivalence which is stronger than that of CSP and weaker than that of CCS.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Birtwistle, G., Dahl, O-J., Myhrhaug, B. and Nygaard, K.:Simula Begin. Auerbach, 1973.

  2. Brookes, S.D., Hoare, C.A.R. and Roscoe, A.W.: A theory of communicating sequential processes.J. ACM, 31(7):560–599, 1984.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  3. Bloom, B., Istrail, S. and Meyer, A.: Bisimulation can't be traced: Preliminary report. InProceedings 15th ACM Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages, pages 229–239, 1988.

  4. Bloom, B. and Meyer, A.: Experimenting with process equivalence. In M. Kwiatkowska, M. Shields, and R. Thomas, editors,Proceedings BCS-FACS Workshop on Semantics for Concurrency, Workshops in Computing, pages 81–95. Springer-Verlag, 1990.

  5. Booch, G.:Object-Oriented Design with Applications. Addison-Wesley, 1990.

  6. Carrington, D., Duke, D., Duke, R., King, P., Rose, G. and Smith, G.: Object-Z: An object-oriented extension to Z. In S. Vuong, editor,Formal Description Techniques, II (FORTE'89), pages 281–296. North-Holland, 1990.

  7. Cusack, E., Rudkin, S. and Smith, C.: An object oriented interpretation of LOTOS. In S. Vuong, editor,Formal Description Techniques, II (FORTE'89), pages 211–226. North-Holland, 1990.

  8. Duke, D. and Duke, R.: Towards a semantics for Object-Z. In D. Bjørner, C.A.R. Hoare, and H. Langmaack, editors,VDM'90: VDM and Zl, volume 428 ofLecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 242–262. Springer-Verlag, 1990.

  9. Duke, D., King, P., Rose, G. and Smith, G.: The Object-Z specification language. In T. Korson, V. Vaishnavi, and B. Meyer, editors,Technology of Object-Oriented Languages and Systems: TOOLS 5, pages 465–483. Prentice-Hall International, 1991.

  10. Duke, D., King, P., Rose, G. and Smith, G.: The Object-Z specification language: Version 1. Technical Report 91-1, Software Verification Research Centre, Department of Computer Science, University of Queensland, Australia, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Fidge, G.: A formal definition of priority in CSP. InProceedings 15th Australian Computer Science Conference(ACSC-15), pages 267–284, January 1992.

  12. Goldberg, A. and Robson, D.:Smalltalk 80: The Language and its Implementation. Addison-Wesley, 1983.

  13. Hoare, C.A.R.:Communicating Sequential Processes. Series in Computer Science. Prentice-Hall International, 1985.

  14. Jones, G. and Goldsmith, M.:Programming in occam 2. Series in Computer Science. Prentice-Hall International, 1988.

  15. Jonsson, B.: A fully abstract trace model for dataflow networks. InProceedings 16th ACM Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages, pages 155–165, 1989.

  16. Larsen, L. and Skou, A.: Bisimulation through probabilistic testing (preliminary report). InProceedings 16th ACM Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages, pages 344–352, 1989.

  17. Meyer, A. and Cosmadakis, S.: Semantical paradigms: Notes for an invited lecture. InProceedings 3rd IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science, pages 236–253, 1988.

  18. Meyer, B.:Object-Oriented Software Construction. Series in Computer Science. Prentice-Hall International, 1988.

  19. Milner, R.:Communication and Concurrency. Series in Computer Science. Prentice-Hall International, 1989.

  20. Narfelt, K.: SYSDAX — an object oriented design methodology based on SDL. InSDL'87: State of the Art and Future Trends. North-Holland, 1987.

  21. Olderog, E.-R. and Hoare, C.A.R.: Specification-oriented semantics for communicating processes.Acta Informatica, 23:9–6, 1986.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  22. Plotkin, G.: LCF considered as a programming language.Theoretical Computer Science, 5(3):223–256, 1977.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  23. Pnueli, A.: Linear and branching structures in the semantics and logics of reactive systems. In W. Brauer, editor,Proceedings 12th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming (ICALP'85), volume 194 ofLecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 15–32. Springer-Verlag, 1985.

  24. Potter, P., Sinclair, J. and Till, D.:An Introduction to Formal Specification and Z. Series in Computer Science. Prentice-Hall International, 1990.

  25. Roscoe, A. and Barrett, G.: Unbounded nondeterminism in CSP. In M. Main, A. Melton, M. Mislove, and D. Schmidt, editors,Proceedings 5th International Conference on the Mathematical Foundations of Programming Semantics, volume 442 ofLecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 160–193. Springer-Verlag, 1990.

  26. Russell, J.: Full abstraction for nondeterministic dataflow networks. Technical Report TR 89-1022, Department of Computer Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Stepney, S., Barden, R. and Cooper, D.: editors.Object Orientation in Z. Workshops in Computing. Springer-Verlag, 1992.

  28. Sijelmassi, R. and Gaudette, P.: An object-oriented model for Estelle. In K. Turner, editor,Formal Description Techniques (FORTE'88), pages 91–105. North-Holland, 1989.

  29. Smith, G.: A fully-abstract semantics of classes for Object-Z (full paper).Formal Aspects of Computing, 7(E) pp 30–66.

  30. Smith, G.:An Object-Oriented Approach to Formal Specification. PhD thesis, Department of Computer Science, University of Queensland, 1992.

  31. Spivey, J.M.:The Z Notation: A Reference Manual. Series in Computer Science. Prentice-Hall International, 1989.

  32. Stoughton, A.:Fully Abstract Models of Programming Languages. Research Notes in Theoretical Computer Science. Pitman/Wiley, 1988.

  33. Utting, M. and Robinson, K.: Towards an object-oriented refinement calculus. InProceedings 14th Australian Computer Science Conference (ACSC-14), February 1991.

  34. Yelland, P.: First steps towards fully abstract semantics for object-oriented languages. In S. Cook, editor,Proceedings European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP'89), pages 347–364. Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Smith, G. A fully abstract semantics of classes for Object-Z. Formal Aspects of Computing 7, 289–313 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01211075

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01211075

Keywords

Navigation