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Formal specification of non-functional properties of component-based software systems

A semantic framework and some applications thereof

Software & Systems Modeling volume 9, pages 161–201 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

Component-based software engineering (CBSE) is viewed as an opportunity to deal with the increasing complexity of modern-day software. Along with CBSE comes the notion of component markets, where more or less generic pieces of software are traded, to be combined into applications by third-party application developers. For such a component market to work successfully, all relevant properties of components must be precisely and formally described. This is especially true for non-functional properties, such as performance, memory foot print, or security. While the specification of functional properties is well understood, non-functional properties are only beginning to become a research focus. This paper discusses semantic concepts for the specification of non-functional properties, taking into account the specific needs of a component market. Based on these semantic concepts, we present a new specification language QML/CS that can be used to model non-functional product properties of components and component-based software systems.

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  1. Computing Department, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

    Steffen Zschaler

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Zschaler, S. Formal specification of non-functional properties of component-based software systems. Softw Syst Model 9, 161–201 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-009-0115-6

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Keywords

  • Non-functional properties
  • Formal specification
  • Component-based software engineering
  • QML/CS