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Towards a semantics for object-Z

  • Object Orientedness
  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
VDM '90 VDM and Z — Formal Methods in Software Development (VDM 1990)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 428))

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Abstract

Object-Z is a notation based on Z but with extensions to more fully support an object-oriented style of specification. Object-Z uses the class concept to incorporate a description of an object's state with related operations. In this paper we introduce an underlying set-theoretic model for classes and so give a formal semantics for classes which extends the semantics of schemas in Z. Our model for a class is based on the idea of a history which captures the sequence of operations and state changes undergone by an instance (object) of the class. Part of the specification of a class can involve predicates which restrict the possible histories of an object.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Centre for Software Technology Department of Computer Science, University of Queensland, Australia

    David Duke & Roger Duke

Authors
  1. David Duke
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  2. Roger Duke
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Editor information

D. Bjørner C. A. R. Hoare H. Langmaack

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Duke, D., Duke, R. (1990). Towards a semantics for object-Z. In: Bjørner, D., Hoare, C.A.R., Langmaack, H. (eds) VDM '90 VDM and Z — Formal Methods in Software Development. VDM 1990. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 428. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-52513-0_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-52513-0_14

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-52513-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47006-9

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