Skip to main content

Generalization/Specialization as a Basis for Software Specification

  • Chapter
On Conceptual Modelling

Part of the book series: Topics in Information Systems ((TINF))

Abstract

This paper describes a software specification methodology based on the notion of concept specialization. The methodology, which is particularly useful for Information Systems, applies uniformly to the various components of such systems, such as data classes, transactions, exceptions, and user interfaces (scripts), and its goal is the systematic and structured description of highly detailed world models, where concepts occur in many variations. An example from the domain of university information systems is used to illustrate and motivate the approach.

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

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Abrial, J. R., “Data Semantics,” in J.W. Klimbie, K.L. Koffeman (eds.),Data management Systems, North-Holland, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Barr, A., J. Davidson, “Representation of Knowledge,” in A. Barr, E. Feigenbaum (eds.), Handbook of Artificial Intelligence, William Kaufmann Inc., 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Barron, J.L., Dialogue Organization and Structure for Interactive Information Systems, Master’s thesis, ( CSRG Technical Report) Dept. of Computer Science, Univ. of Toronto, January 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bobrow, D., Goldstein, I., “Representing Design Alternatives,”Proc. Society for Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behavior Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, July 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Borgida, A.T., “On the Definition of Specialization Hierarchies for Procedures,”Proc. 7th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, August 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Borgida, A.T., “Conceptual Modeling for Information System Development,”Proc. 1st A UC Conference on Databases, Medellin, Colombia, August 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Borgida, A.T., “Prospectus for Research on Flexible Information Systems,” Dept. of Computer Science, Rutgers Univ., 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Borgida, A.T., H.K.T. Wong, “Data Models and Data Manipulation Languages: Complimentary Semantics and Proof Theory,”Proc. 7th International Conference on Very Large Databases, Cannes, France, September 1981, pp. 260–271.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Borgida, A.T., J. Mylopoulos, H.K.T. Along, “Methodological and Computer Aids for Interactive Information System Design,” in H.J. Schneider, A. Wasserman (eds.),Automated Tools for Information System Design — Proc. of IFIP Conference, North-Holland, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Carlson, E., W. Metz, “A Design for Table-Driven Display Generation and Management Systems,” Technical Report, IBM Research Laboratory, San Jose, Calif., 1979.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Dahl, O.-J., C.A.R. Hoare, “Hierarchical Program Structures,” in O.-J. Dahl, E.W. Dijkstra, C.A.R. Hoare (eds.),Structured Programming, Academic Press, New York, 1972, pp. 175–220.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Dijkstra, E.W. “Notes on Structured Programming,” in O.-J. Dahl, E.W. Dijkstra, C.A.R. Hoare (eds.),Structured Programming, Academic Press, New York, 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Greenspan, S., A.T. Borgida, J. Mylopoulos, “Capturing More World Knowledge in the Requirements Specification,”Proc. 6th International Conference on Software Engineering, Tokyo, Japan, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Hammer, M., D. McLeod, “Semantic Integrity in a Relational Database System,”Proc. 1st International Conference on Very Large Databases, Framingham, Mass., September 1975, pp. 25–47.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Hewitt, C., P. Bishop, R. Steiger, “A Universal Modular ACTOR Formalism for Artificial Intelligence,”Proc. International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Palo Alto, Calif., August 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Hoare, C.A.R., “Communicating Sequential Processes,”Communications of the ACM, Vol. 21, No. 8, August 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Hall, P., J. Owlett, S.J.P. Todd, “Relations and Entities,” in J. M. Nijssen (ed.),Modelling in Database Management Systems, Elsevier North-Holland, New York, 1976.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Ingalls, D.H., “The Smalltalk-76 Programming System: Design and Implementation,”Conference Record of the Fifth Annual ACM Symposium on Programming Languages, Tucson, Arizona, January 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  19. International Organization for Standardization,Draft Specification for the Computer Programming Language Pascal, ISO/TC 97/SC 5 N, 1979.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Liskov B., A. Snyder, R. Atkinson, C. Schaffert, “Abstraction Mechanism in CLU,” Communications of the ACM, Vol. 20, No. 8, August 1977, pp. 564–576.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  21. McLeod, D., J.M. Smith, “Abstraction in Databases,” in [BZ81].

    Google Scholar 

  22. McCarthy, J., M. Sato, T. Hayashi, S. Igarashi, “On the Model Theory of Knowledge,” Memo AIM-312, Dept. of Computer Science, Stanford Univ., 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Mylopoulos, J., “An Overview of Knowledge Representation,” in [BZ81].

    Google Scholar 

  24. Newell, A., “Some Problems of Basic Organization in Problem-Solving Programs,” Memorandum RM-3283-PR, Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif., December 1962.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Mylopoulos, J., P.A. Bernstein, H.K.T. along, “A Language Facility for Designing Interactive Database-Intensive Applications,” ACM Transactions on Database Systems, Vol. 5, No. 2, June 1980, pp. 185–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Parnas, D.L., “A Technique for Software Module Specification with Examples,” Communications of the ACM, Vol. 15, May 1972, pp. 330–336.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Quillian, M.R. “Semantic Memory,” in M. Minsky (ed.), Semantic Information Processing, , 1968.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Smith, J.M., D.C.P. Smith, “A Database Approach to Software Specification,” Technical Report CCA-79-17, Computer Corporation of America, Cambridge, Mass., April 1979.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Tsichritzis, D., “Form Management,” Communications of the ACM, Vol. 25, No. 7, July 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Tsichritzis, D., F. Lochovsky, Data Models, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Wasserman, A.I., “Procedure-Oriented Exception-Handling,” Technical Report 27, Medical Information Science, Univ. of California, San Francisco, February 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Wilson, M.L., “The Information Automata Approach to Design and Implementation of Computer-Based Systems,” Technical Report FSD76-0093, IBM Federal Systems Division, Gaithersburg, Md., 1975.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Wirth, N., “Program Development by Stepwise Refinement,” Communications of the ACM, Vol. 14, No. 4, April 1971, pp. 221–227.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  34. Wirth, N., Systematic Programming, An Introduction, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Wong, H.K.T., “Design and Verification of Interactive Information Systems Using TAXIS,” Technical Report CSRG-129, CSRG, Univ. of Toronto, April 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Wulf, W.A., R.L. London, M. Shaw, “An Introduction to the Construction and Verification of Alphard Programs,” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Vol. SE-2, No. 4, December 1976, pp. 253–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Zisman, M., “Use of Production Systems for Modelling Asynchronous Parallel Processes,” in [WH78].

    Google Scholar 

  38. Zilles, S.N., P. Lucas, J.W. Thatcher, “A Look at Algebraic Specification,” submitted for publication.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1984 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Borgida, A., Mylopoulos, J., Wong, H.K.T. (1984). Generalization/Specialization as a Basis for Software Specification. In: Brodie, M.L., Mylopoulos, J., Schmidt, J.W. (eds) On Conceptual Modelling. Topics in Information Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5196-5_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5196-5_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9732-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-5196-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics