Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Generating Executable Scenarios from Natural Language

  • Conference paper
Computational Linguistics and Intelligent Text Processing (CICLing 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 5449))

Abstract

Bridging the gap between the specification of software requirements and actual execution of the behavior of the specified system has been the target of much research in recent years. We have created a natural language interface, which, for a useful class of systems, yields the automatic production of executable code from structured requirements. In this paper we describe how our method uses static and dynamic grammar for generating live sequence charts (LSCs), that constitute a powerful executable extension of sequence diagrams for reactive systems. We have implemented an automatic translation from controlled natural language requirements into LSCs, and we demonstrate it on two sample reactive systems.

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

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
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. Harel, D.: Can Programming be Liberated, Period? Computer 41(1), 28–37 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Harel, D., Marelly, R.: Come, Let’s Play: Scenario-Based Programming Using LSC’s and the Play-Engine. Springer, Heidelberg (2003)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  3. Damm, W., Harel, D.: LSCs: Breathing Life into Message Sequence Charts. Formal Methods in System Design 19(1), 45–80 (2001)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. UML: Unified Modeling Language Superstructure, v2.1.1. Technical Report formal/2007-02-03, Object Management Group (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Harel, D., Kugler, H., Marelly, R., Pnueli, A.: Smart Play-Out of Behavioral Requirements. In: Aagaard, M.D., O’Leary, J.W. (eds.) FMCAD 2002. LNCS, vol. 2517, pp. 378–398. Springer, Heidelberg (2002)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  6. Harel, D., Segall, I.: Planned and Traversable Play-Out: A Flexible Method for Executing Scenario-Based Programs. In: Grumberg, O., Huth, M. (eds.) TACAS 2007. LNCS, vol. 4424, pp. 485–499. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  7. Mich, L.: NL-OOPS: From Natural Language to Object Oriented Requirements Using the Natural Language Processing System LOLITA. Natural Language Engineering 2(2), 161–187 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bryant, B.: Object-Oriented Natural Language Requirements Specification. In: Proc. 23rd Australian Computer Science Conference (ACSC) (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Segundo, L.M., Herrera, R.R., Herrera, K.Y.P.: UML Sequence Diagram Generator System from Use Case Description Using Natural Language. In: Electronics, Robotics and Automotive Mechanics Conference (CERMA 2007), pp. 360–363 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Drazan, J., Mencl, V.: Improved Processing of Textual Use Cases: Deriving Behavior Specifications. In: van Leeuwen, J., Italiano, G.F., van der Hoek, W., Meinel, C., Sack, H., Plášil, F. (eds.) SOFSEM 2007. LNCS, vol. 4362, pp. 856–868. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  11. Bryant, B.R., Lee, B.S.: Two-Level Grammar as an Object-Oriented Requirements Specification Language. In: Proc. 35th Annual Hawaii Int. Conf. on System Sciences (HICSS 2002), p. 280 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  12. ITU: International Telecommunication Union: Recommendation Z.120: Message Sequence Chart (MSC). Technical report (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Jurafsky, D., Martin, J.H.: Speech and Language Processing: An Introduction to Natural Language Processing, Computational Linguistics, and Speech Recognition. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Harel, D.: On Visual Formalisms. Commun. ACM 31(5), 514–530 (1988)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  15. Miller, G.A., Beckwith, R., Fellbaum, C., Gross, D., Miller, K.: Introduction to WordNet: An On-line Lexical Database (1993), http://wordnet.princeton.edu/

  16. Requirements to LSCs: http://www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~michalk/reqtolscs/

  17. Cabral, G., Sampaio, A.: Formal Specification Generation from Requirement Documents. In: Brazilian Symposium on Formal Methods (SBMF) (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Fuchs, N.E., Schwitter., R.: Attempto: Controlled natural language for requirements specifications. In: Proc. Seventh Intl. Logic Programming Symp. Workshop Logic Programming Environments (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Fuchs, N.E., Schwitter, R.: Attempto Controlled English (ACE). In: Proc. 1st Int. Workshop on Controlled Language Applications, pp. 124–136 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Takahashi, M., Takahashi, S., Fujita, Y.: A proposal of adequate and efficient designing of UML documents for beginners. In: Apolloni, B., Howlett, R.J., Jain, L. (eds.) KES 2007, Part II. LNCS, vol. 4693, pp. 1331–1338. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  21. Giganto, R.T.: A Three Level Algorithm for Generating Use Case Specifications. In: Proceedings of Software Innovation and Engineering New Zealand Workshop 2007 (SIENZ 2007) (2007)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    Michal Gordon & David Harel

Authors
  1. Michal Gordon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. David Harel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Polytechnic Institute, Center for Computing Research, 07738, Mexico City, Mexico

    Alexander Gelbukh

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Gordon, M., Harel, D. (2009). Generating Executable Scenarios from Natural Language. In: Gelbukh, A. (eds) Computational Linguistics and Intelligent Text Processing. CICLing 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5449. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00382-0_37

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00382-0_37

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-00381-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-00382-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation